Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., led Democrats in a letter to White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks on Wednesday asking if he’s exceeded his time-limited position in the White House.
President Donald Trump announced the Silicon Valley businessman’s position overseeing crypto and AI in December.
In March, the White House gave him a financial conflict of interest waiver as a special government employee, a flexible designation meant to bring outside experts to do time-limited stints in government. Sacks divested over $200 million related to digital assets with his venture capital fund, Craft Ventures, where he still works.
Sacks got a second waiver in July, which outlined AI-focused divestitures. The remaining venture capital funds managed by Craft Ventures that Sacks has a financial interest in are a low percentage of his total investment assets, but that could still be potentially a “heck of a lot of money,” one ethics expert told TechCrunch in July.
Warren, Stansbury and six other lawmakers wrote that Sacks remains “deeply invested in the crypto and AI companies.” Their focus is whether Sacks has overstayed a 130-day limit within a year for special government employees.
“The White House waived ethics restrictions to allow you to maintain those investments in the industries you regulate,” their letter continued. “Any effort to stay beyond the time limits imposed on you as a Special Government Employee (SGE) would raise additional ethics concerns for you and the Trump Administration, particularly as it moves to implement recently enacted cryptocurrency legislation and put in place new rules for the crypto industry.”
The number of days Sacks has worked in his White House role isn’t clear, the group wrote.
If Sacks has worked every business day since Trump took office, the 130-day mark would have hit in late July, although he’s reportedly been splitting his time between the Beltway and Silicon Valley.
The group said they want responses to a list of questions by October, including the number of days Sacks has worked in his White House role and where from.
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
