Warner Targets Trump’s Crypto Income in Reelection Campaign Ad

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has made President Donald Trump’s crypto earnings a subject of his reelection campaign, using a new ad to accuse Trump of turning public office into personal gain.

The spot, titled “Grifting,” was released Oct. 13. A voice in the ad claims Trump made more than $600 million from a memecoin. Warner says, “That’s not governing. It’s grifting. The corruption needs to stop.”

Trump’s annual financial disclosure covering 2025 records $635,068,835 in Celebration Coins licensing royalties under CIC Digital LLC. The filing describes CIC Digital as handling NFT and meme coin licensing and lists the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust as its sole owner. It does not calculate Trump’s net personal profit from any one token. The ad’s claim is therefore distinct from the royalty amount in the disclosure. Trump has defended his crypto income generally as legal.

Warner previously raised concerns about presidential crypto earnings during the Senate’s consideration of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He voted against cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill on Sept. 15. The Senate rejected that procedural motion 49-50, with one senator not voting. The roll call determined whether the chamber could move toward considering the bill; it was not a vote on passage.

The bill would establish federal rules for digital assets and clarify the respective roles of the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Warner called for stronger ethics requirements covering the president and other senior officials. Republican sponsors’ proposed substitute included ethics provisions with an enforcement role for state attorneys general. Warner said those provisions fell short. The substitute depended on the Senate first agreeing to proceed with the legislation.

The campaign ad does not mention the Clarity Act or the Sept. 15 vote. Its criticism of Trump’s crypto earnings overlaps with Warner’s stated ethics concern, while the bill remains short of the procedural approval needed for Senate consideration.