Politico: Trump's tweet "promoting XRP and other encryption reserves" was driven by lobbyists, and he was not aware of it.

On May 9, according to Politico, Trump posted on Truth Social on March 2 that he "will advance the strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies including XRP, SOL, and ADA", which was actually promoted by lobbyist Ballard Partners, unbeknownst to Trump himself, and lobbyist Ballard has been "expelled" from the White House. According to people familiar with the matter, the White House "crypto czar" David Sacks was furious just minutes after the president's post, and soon White House officials realized that the XRP mentioned by "Truth Social" was a client of lobbyist Ballard. White House staff members were instructed not to meet with Ballard after posts about cryptocurrencies came to light, according to people familiar with the matter. But people close to Mr. Trump have expressed much more than enough dissatisfaction with Mr. Ballard, with some White House officials believing that Mr. Ballard is exploiting Mr. Trump's reputation for profit. Politico reviewed Ballard's invitations to Trump fundraisers, as well as transcripts of his phone calls with senior Trump administration officials since the events in March, and evidence showed that Ballard had not severed ties with the White House.