Elizabeth Warren probes UAE tech access after Trump crypto investments

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Wednesday demanded that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explain the Trump administration’s July decision to ease export controls on the United Arab Emirates after UAE-linked entities invested hundreds of millions of dollars in President Donald Trump’s family cryptocurrency venture.

In a letter shared exclusively with CNBC, Warren asked the Commerce Department to turn over its national-security analysis and disclose whether the Defense, State or Energy departments raised concerns about sensitive U.S. technology being diverted to China or Iran.

“The Department’s actions raise significant questions about the potential influence the President’s cryptocurrency business interests may be having on the agency’s operations and our national security,” Warren wrote.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Warren’s inquiry focuses on Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security advisor and chairman of artificial intelligence company G42 and investment firm MGX. He is dubbed the “Spy Sheikh” due to his key role in UAE intelligence.

Entities linked to Sheikh Tahnoon reportedly invested $500 million in the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial and received board seats. MGX also used World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

There is no evidence that those transactions influenced Commerce’s export controls decision.

Commerce last month added the UAE to a more permissive export-control category, Country Group A:5, allowing certain sensitive products to be shipped under broad exemptions instead of requiring companies to obtain individual licenses. The change gives the UAE government, G42 and its cloud subsidiary Core42 streamlined access to some advanced-computing equipment.

The department also said it would “favorably review” license applications involving semiconductors and servers bound for MGX, which is also a backer of AI juggernauts OpenAI and Anthropic.

Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called the timing “alarming.”

“After that investment into WLF, Sheikh Tahnoon reportedly sought approvals to import advanced AI chips in meetings with U.S. officials,” she wrote. “Now, the Trump Administration has apparently granted the request.”

Warren argued that Commerce broke with past practice because every other country receiving the same streamlined treatment participates in at least one of the four major international export-control agreements. The UAE does not.

Warren also asked how Commerce would prevent controlled technology from reaching prohibited users and whether chips shipped to G42 could be accessed by entities tied to Chinese military or intelligence agencies.

Commerce has said the change recognizes the UAE’s status as a major U.S. defense partner and its support for U.S. national security interests, including Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s war against Iran. They also have maintained that the rules do not eliminate restrictions designed to prevent sensitive technology from reaching prohibited countries or users.

Warren asked Lutnick to respond to seven sets of questions and called for him and Jeffrey Kessler, the head of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, to testify before Congress.