GoKawiilRanking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh as he testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Wednesday demanded that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explain the Trump administration's July decision to ease export controls on the United Arab Emirates after UAE-linked entities invested hundreds of millions of dollars in President Donald Trump's family cryptocurrency venture.
In a letter shared exclusively with CNBC, Warren asked the Commerce Department to turn over its national-security analysis and disclose whether the Defense, State or Energy departments raised concerns about sensitive U.S. technology being diverted to China or Iran.
"The Department's actions raise significant questions about the potential influence the President's cryptocurrency business interests may be having on the agency's operations and our national security," Warren wrote.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Warren's inquiry focuses on Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security advisor and chairman of artificial intelligence company G42 and investment firm MGX. He is dubbed the "Spy Sheikh" due to his key role in UAE intelligence.
Entities linked to Sheikh Tahnoon reportedly invested $500 million in the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial and received board seats. MGX also used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
There is no evidence that those transactions influenced Commerce's export controls decision.
Commerce last month added the UAE to a more permissive export-control category, Country Group A:5, allowing certain sensitive products to be shipped under broad exemptions instead of requiring companies to obtain individual licenses. The change gives the UAE government, G42 and its cloud subsidiary Core42 streamlined access to some advanced-computing equipment.
The department also said it would "favorably review" license applications involving semiconductors and servers bound for MGX, which is also a backer of AI juggernauts OpenAI and Anthropic.
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