Former NBA star and Kardashian ex Lamar Odom was booed and jeered by protesters as he walked into President Donald Trump’s meme coin gala dinner.
The one-time Los Angeles Lakers starter Odom, who’s the ex-husband of Khloe Kardashian and typically appeared within the household’s actuality TV collection, was one of many 220 highest bidders of the $TRUMP meme coin, incomes him a spot at the president’s glitzy black-tie gala in Virginia Thursday evening.
Trump schmoozed with Odom and the other top purchasers of the coin at his golf course amid accusations from Democrats that he is “cashing in” on his cryptocurrency coins from a place of energy within the White Home.
Odom posted a video strolling into the gala on his X account Thursday, touting his personal meme coin to the backdrop of booing and chants of “disgrace, disgrace, disgrace.”
“I’m nearly to cross by means of safety and formally stroll into the Trump Gala,” he captioned the video. “Actually… I’m fired up. $ODOM isn’t only a token, it’s taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight!”
A protester was seen within the footage holding a banner that mentioned: “No Kings.”
Odom, who’s no stranger to controversy, didn’t betray any concern over the protests, flashed a smile as he entered the unique dinner.
Previously he has made headlines for practically dying from on overdose at Nevada’s notorious Bunny Ranch brothel that left him in a coma whereas married to Kardashian and she has talked about being ‘humiliated’ by his alleged cheating while they were married from 2009-2016.
From one humiliating second to a different, Odom’s stint on Massive Brother in 2022 noticed him confess on national television that he’d had an accident in bed. “I needed to clear it up in entrance of the world,” he mentioned, and blamed his IBS.
Odom mentioned his cryptocurrency “isn’t only a meme — it’s a consensus I earned with my life,” and launched it per week earlier than attending the Trump dinner.
Lots of the buyers in Trump’s meme coin are international, elevating explicit considerations amongst lawmakers that they could be looking for favors from the American president in alternate for lining his and his household’s pockets that is probably not within the nation’s curiosity.
Round 80 p.c of the meme coin’s provide is managed by the Trump Organization and its associates. All however six of the highest 25 buyers outdoors of the Trump household used foreign exchanges that are closed to U.S. residents, Bloomberg has reported. No less than 56 p.c of the 220 holders used different comparable offshore exchanges.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon was among the many protesters outdoors the gala and referred to as Trump’s crypto enterprise “the Mount Everest of corruption,” based on The New York Times.
“That is the crypto corruption membership,” Merkley was shouting on the entrance.
In the meantime, Democrats have additionally referred to as for “pressing solutions” over $2 billion-dollar crypto funding deal between an Abu Dhabi state-backed funding agency MGX and World Liberty Monetary, the crypto enterprise which the Trump household holds a 60 p.c stake. In an extra “battle of curiosity,” World Liberty Monetary’s co-founder is Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump’s Particular Envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff.
Democrats Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote to the Workplace of Authorities Ethics Performing Director Jamieson Greer to voice their considerations concerning the deal earlier this month.
They mentioned that the deal may earn “the Trump and Witkoff households a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.”
“The alternatives for grift – during which the Trump Administration provides favors to the UAE or to Binance in alternate for his or her huge payouts – are mind-boggling,” the senators said.
Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, previously slammed the $TRUMP memecoin as “corruption in broad daylight.”
“Trump is cashing in on his presidency and making hundreds of thousands from his personal crypto cash. It’s corruption in broad daylight,” Kelly mentioned in a publish on X. The senator is co-sponsoring a bill that may make it unlawful for the president, senior government department officers and members of Congress from issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring crypto belongings whereas in workplace to keep away from a battle of curiosity.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned it was “absurd” to counsel that the president “ is profiting off of the presidency.”
“This president was extremely profitable earlier than giving all of it as much as serve our nation publicly,” she mentioned.
