The Trump Official Trying To Cut A Crypto Deal That Could Crack Down On Trump

The White House’s crypto point person is facing one of the most politically fraught assignments of President Donald Trump’s second term: negotiating a landmark cryptocurrency bill with Democrats who say it must crack down on Trump himself.

As Congress inches closer to passing industry-backed digital asset legislation, 37-year-old Patrick Witt is negotiating with senators on government ethics language that Democrats want to see put new restrictions on the Trump family’s crypto businesses.

The ethics provision has emerged as a central sticking point for the broader legislation, and Democrats have leverage because the GOP needs their support in the Senate. Witt has the unenviable task of landing a deal that pleases both Trump and some of his most ardent foes in Congress.

“Any time you’re talking about the Democrats negotiating with the president, whoever the negotiator is — they’ve got their work cut out for them,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees crypto policy.

The politically awkward dynamic has made Witt a key player in determining the outcome of one of the Trump administration’s top remaining legislative priorities this year. The sweeping bill, known as the Clarity Act, would overhaul an array of Wall Street regulations to divvy up federal oversight of digital assets, which supporters say is necessary to deliver the industry so-called regulatory clarity.

Some senators are openly questioning whether Witt, who has no previous Capitol Hill experience, is in a position to cut an agreement.

“I don’t think he has any authority to make a deal,” said Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy, who sits on the Banking panel but has not been directly involved in the ethics talks. “I think the only person who can make that deal is President Trump.”

Democrats have said they want language that would bar federal employees — including the president and members of Congress — from sponsoring, endorsing or issuing digital assets. But the details of the talks are unclear, and it remains to be seen how an ultimate deal would affect the Trump family.

The Trumps have become players in the crypto industry through several lucrative ventures including a memecoin the president put out just ahead of his inauguration and World Liberty Financial, a crypto project the Trump and his sons helped launch that issues two different types of digital tokens.

Democrats have warned that the Trump family crypto businesses have created opportunities for corruption — a claim the White House rejects. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has previously denied that Trump or his family “have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”

The White House declined to make Witt available for an interview for this story. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement that “cementing America’s innovative dominance is a key priority for President Trump, and the Administration has assembled some of the best and brightest minds to help with this effort.”

“That includes Patrick Witt, who has been an immense asset for the White House on the Clarity Act, which continues to be held up by Democrats who are more interested in playing political games than supporting American technology,” Desai said.

Some Democrats are skeptical whether the work they’re doing with Witt will be able to stick.

“There’s still a big question about whether, even if we got to agreement with Patrick Witt — and we’re still some distance from that — whether that could simply be shot down by the White House,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a longtime Trump foe who is involved in negotiations.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a pro-crypto Wyoming Republican who is helping to lead the ethics negotiations for the GOP, said Witt has been an effective liaison between two sides that aren’t used to talking to each other. She said he "stays in constant contact with senior staff at the White House, explaining to them what the sideboards are of the discussions."

“Of course he will not have the absolute final say on final language. That’s going to have to go directly to the president,” she said. “But to the extent that someone has, within a defined space, room to negotiate, is what gives him the opportunity to explore the way to thread the needle.”

Witt took a roundabout route to leading the White House’s crypto portfolio as executive director of the president’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, a role he took over last year after a stint at the Defense Department.

A Georgia native who carries degrees from Yale and Harvard Law School, Witt is a one-time football star who served as the Yale Bulldogs’ quarterback during the 2009-2011 seasons after transferring from the University of Nebraska.

Witt faced controversy at Yale when, in 2012, The New York Times reported on a sexual assault allegation that he faced as an undergraduate, which he has denied. Witt wrote in a 2014 Boston Globe opinion piece that the claim was made by an ex-girlfriend via an “informal complaint” that he said denied him due process because it did not allow him to learn specifics about the allegation or trigger any fact-finding processes that could determine guilt or innocence.

Witt has since gone on to work at McKinsey and in Trump administration roles that require government background checks. He served in the Office of Personnel Management during the first Trump term, on the 2024 Trump transition team and in several Defense Department roles before starting at the White House last year, according to his LinkedIn page.

Following Trump’s 2020 election loss, Witt worked on the legal team that sought to challenge the results in Georgia, according to a 2022 deposition before Congress’s Jan. 6 select committee by GOP campaign attorney Cleta Mitchell. In 2022, he mounted a brief Georgia congressional campaign before dropping out to run for state insurance commissioner with Trump’s backing, but lost in a GOP primary.

Witt’s work in the crypto role has won him praise from across the digital assets industry and from pro-crypto figures in Congress and the administration.

David Sacks, Trump’s former crypto and AI czar who now co-chairs the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said in a statement that “Patrick has been absolutely indispensable in getting the Clarity Act to the finish line.”

“His character and work ethic are impeccable,” he said. “We are lucky to have him.”

The ethics fight isn’t the only contentious issue Witt has been tasked with resolving related to the crypto bill. He also negotiated a provision with Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) that is aimed at resolving a standoff between banks and crypto companies, though Wall Street lobbying groups say the language the lawmakers agreed to doesn’t go far enough.

Tillis said in a statement that Witt “is a consummate professional who has been a great working partner with Congress as we advance the Clarity Act.”

“He is driven by producing a result and has always kept his word to lawmakers throughout this process and I have been impressed with his ability to forge consensus on difficult policy issues,” he said.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a key leader of the crypto effort, said in a statement that Witt “has been a helpful partner to me and the Senate Banking Committee as we work to deliver clear rules of the road for digital assets.”

“His leadership at the White House has helped move this effort forward and get the Clarity Act towards the finish line,” he said.

The legislation’s ethics negotiations have played out in a series of closed-door Capitol Hill meetings in recent months between Witt and a bipartisan group of lawmakers working on the bill that includes GOP Sens. Lummis, Tillis and Bernie Moreno of Ohio, along with Democratic Sens. Schiff, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

The talks have hit several bumps — most recently over the authority that state attorneys general should have to enforce the ethics rules — and there is no love lost between the two sides. But negotiations have continued as Republicans aim to put the crypto bill on the floor ahead of Congress’s August recess.

Gillibrand said in an interview that Witt has “been very constructive and wants to support the process.”

Lummis said that “in some ways, it may seem impossible to have” Witt’s job of working for the president and negotiating with Democrats on the ethics language.

“But I am so impressed with the way that he’s conducted himself and communicated with senators and the White House about the challenges ahead,” she said. “The fact that he is 100 percent engaged and immersed in this gives him a perspective that allows him to find ways to thread the needle. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone better at it.”

Declan Harty contributed to this report.