Senator Elizabeth Warren has raised concerns that her and Representative Katie Porter’s 2024 campaigns could face attacks funded by “corporate money” associated with crypto supporters. During an interview with Pod Save America, Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, asked Senator Warren about John Deaton, a “Republican crypto enthusiast” who is considering challenging her for her seat in the 2024 election. Senator Warren, who has been vocal about her skepticism towards digital assets and their connection to illicit activities, suggested that “corporatists” may try to financially support challengers to her and Representative Porter.
Favreau mentioned the possibility of crypto Super PACs, such as the one that targeted Katie Porter in the California Senate race, flooding Senator Warren’s campaign with money. He was likely referring to Fairshake, a SuperPAC backed by crypto firms like Ripple and Coinbase, which aired an advertisement in February claiming that Representative Porter had accepted campaign contributions from “big pharma, big oil, and the big bank executives.” However, the ad was rated as “mostly false” by Andrew Sheeler of the Sacramento Bee for misrepresenting the companies that had donated to Porter’s campaign.
In response, Representative Porter expressed her concern about “corporate special interests” spending millions of dollars to distort her record. Both Senator Warren and Representative Porter have stated that their campaigns did not accept “corporate PAC money” and relied on small donations for their Senate races.
During the interview, Senator Warren defended her push for the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act (DAAML), refuting claims that regulating crypto was too complex. She argued that there were gaps in the current system regarding crypto, which allowed it to be exploited by drug traffickers, human traffickers, rogue nations, and terrorists. Senator Warren also highlighted that some crypto individuals had significant amounts of money to spend and had hired lobbying armies to oppose DAAML.
The 2024 election day in the US is scheduled for November 5, with control of the House of Representatives, Senate, and Presidency up for grabs by either Republicans or Democrats. Cointelegraph reached out to Fairshake for comment, but no response was received at the time of publication.
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