RM Warren Questions Prudential Regulators: Michelle Bowman, Travis Hill, Jonathan Gould at Hearing

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. So last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on a story about ties between Donald Trump and the top spy in the United Arab Emirates, who is the president's brother and the country's national security advisor. He is actually called Spy Shake. A few days before Trump was sworn into office, this spy spent half a billion dollars to secretly acquire a 49% stake in Trump's crypto company. So what does the UAE's top spy get for his half billion dollars? Well, the Trump administration agreed to sell the UAE our most sensitive AI chips. Our own national security experts say the UAE and the Spy Shake's companies may be a conduit for funneling high tech to China, technology that strengthens China militarily. Now, right now, Trump's crypto company, World Liberty, has a bank charter application pending with the OCC, an agency that the president controls. Controller Gould, you run the OCC. Did World Liberty disclose in its application that the Spy Shake's company was a principal shareholder in the proposed bank? Senator, thank you for the question. I'm not going to discuss the specifics of any application. Are you telling us you won't tell whether or not they disclosed it? Do you acknowledge that it is supposed to be disclosed, principal shareholders? Senator, unlike the last four years of the Biden administration, under President Trump's leadership, we are actually doing what we say we'll do. Well, let's see if you're doing what you say you will do. Like all applicants for a bank charter, the OCC regulations require World Liberty to disclose all principal shareholders, which are persons with at least a 10 percent direct or indirect stake in the proposed bank. Those insiders must file a biographical and financial report with the agency. Failure to do so would be grounds for dismissal of the application. Evidently, you have not dismissed the application, so I assume the disclosure was made. Will you show Chairman Scott and me an unredacted application so that we can see that for ourselves and see that you are, in fact, following the law? Senator, the only thing to which I will commit is following our established procedures, which are outlined in the regulations that you provided, as well as the 131 pages of the Comptroller's Licensing Manual. We have oversight here. I would like to see, in camera, it is non-public, I would like to see that along with Chairman Scott, I would like to see that application just to ascertain that the appropriate disclosures have been made. Will you commit to doing that? Senator, I would be happy to entertain your request and discuss with my team and make sure that we're doing and affording you the same privileges that we have afforded past administrations. I don't know that anyone's ever had to ask that before because I don't think any president has ever had a pending bank application before. Now, President Trump's crypto company is now at the center of perhaps the most disgraceful presidential corruption scandal in U.S. history. An American president who sells out our national security to make money for himself. And if you grant World Liberty a bank charter, you will be a party to that. So, Comptroller Gould, given the clear national security risks posed by UAE ownership of a U.S. bank, President Trump's huge financial conflicts that we've just talked about, and your own conflict, given that you serve at the pleasure of that same president, will you deny or at least delay review of World Liberty's application? Senator, consistent with my statutory obligations, we will process that application as we process all applications. And I would note that the only political pressure I have felt from any part of the United States government, Senator, is from you. Well, it is pressure to follow the law. If you follow the law, you will reject the president's application. As soon as you approve that application, and we all know you're going to approve it, you go from being a cheerleader for President Trump to an accomplice in his corruption. Now, let me see if I can just get to one other problem, and that is not just doing Trump's bidding, but also doing Wall Street's bidding. We know, Vice Chair Bowman, that reducing capital cushions at mega banks increases the likelihood of crashes and taxpayer bailouts. I did some research. Turns out that your rulemaking would reduce required capital at the largest banks by more than $200 billion, or 23 percent for the big bank companies. I will submit a question for the record so that I don't go over, but this is entirely contrary to your own comments that you would not put our nation at risk. You are doing so.