Trump scrutiny, not CLARITY Act, to become priority if Democrats reclaim House majority

If a Democratic House majority wins in November’s midterms, it is expected that subpoenaing President Donald Trump’s finances and crypto dealings will take first priority. 

Meanwhile, the crypto industry’s market-structure bill, the CLARITY Act, could remain on hold for much longer than stakeholders would want. 

What would a Democratic House majority mean for Trump? 

Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is expected to take the gavel if Democrats win the November midterms. He regards the corruption around the presidency “a civic emergency” and said a Democratic majority would let his party “call hearings, conduct depositions, use subpoenas to compel the appearance of witnesses.”

Raskin’s long list of potential targets includes Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom he has already threatened to subpoena over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. He will also seek answers regarding a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for Trump allies and alleged violations of the foreign emoluments clause. 

The president reported more than $1 billion in crypto-related income for 2025. His 927-page financial disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics shows that he earned approximately $635 million in royalties from “Celebration Coins,” linked to his $TRUMP memecoin business. 

More than $500 million reported was stated to be from sales by World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-founded by members of his family.

Representative Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat from Arizona, has already asked the House Oversight Committee to subpoena the president’s 20-year-old son, Barron, over the family’s ties to jailed influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate. Ansari said on a podcast that “Barron Trump is an adult and someone who exerts considerable influence around the White House.”

Barron is a co-founder of World Liberty Financial, and his crypto holdings are estimated at about $150 million. The request to subpoena him is currently frozen while Republicans hold the gavel.

Why is the CLARITY Act stuck? 

The CLARITY Act, a legislation crypto firms have spent the year pushing, is stuck in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed the chamber would not vote on the bill before the August recess, delaying action to September 14 at the earliest, Cryptopolitan reported. 

Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster, meaning the bill needs meaningful Democratic support to advance. 

However, Democrats have refused to back the bill until it addresses conflicts tied to the president’s crypto holdings. A group of about a dozen Democrats has signaled openness to backing the bill, but they are pushing for an ethics provision that would crack down on Trump’s ability to profit off his family’s crypto businesses. 

Senator Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican, and Senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, teamed up on a counteroffer that includes a divestment requirement for Trump, but it is unclear whether the White House and other Republicans will accept it. 

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal asked the SEC in early August to investigate whether the $TRUMP memecoin amounted to an “illegal scam” and a possible “rug pull,” noting that nearly a million investors lost over $3.8 billion on the coin while Trump himself made $636 million.

The cryptocurrency, AI, and Big Tech companies together have spent $294 million on this election cycle’s races, more than half of all corporate outside spending, according to Data for Progress. 

Polymarket places the odds of the CLARITY Act passing within the year at about 38%, down from above 80%. The odds are even lower on Kalshi, with the chance of passage in 2026 sitting at about 20%. 

The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.