Rep. Davidson to Newsmax: Political Angle Part of FTX Scandal

When new FTX crypto exchange CEO Chair John Ray is finished restructuring the company and provides a clear destination for funds, many political entities will "probably uniformly" return the funds they got for campaign finance accounts, but the donation part of the scandal is just a fraction of what happened, Rep. Warren Davidson said on Newsmax on Wednesday.

"When you put it into scope, yes, it's intensive," the Ohio Republican told Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "But in terms of the $8 billion that is missing, retail consumers, by far, are the people most harmed by this."

The political angle "may be the most salacious for a docudrama or something," Davidson added, "but the reality is, this fraud really hurt a lot of people, and broadly, it's caused a lot of collateral damage to the market."

During the two years before the midterm elections, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in the Bahamas and is facing charges of misleading investors and mishandling billions in funds, donated $40 million to candidates and campaign groups in the two years before the midterm elections, with most of the money going to Democrats.

According to federal data, the House Majority PAC and the Senate Majority PAC, which help elect Democrats, got about $7 million from Bankman-Fried over the past two years.

Davidson on Wednesday also discussed the ongoing talks in the House on the spending bills, with some House Republicans urging fellow members to reject a short-term spending bill, as government funding is scheduled to run out Friday night at midnight.

"I hope that Republicans will hold together," said Davidson. "We should be united in saying, Why would we give one week? We'll give you a month. We'll give you into the next month where we have a seat at the table."

But Democrats, he said, are "trying to pass a hyperpartisan funding bill."

"Why would you give them the vote to get a CR passed, just for another week?" Davidson said of the continuing resolution. "We should not give them the votes for this … the only way we should fund the government is if we fund a government that will do certain things like secure the border."

The Biden administration is "flagrantly ignoring laws," he continued. "They're completely abusing the power of multiple offices, and we shouldn't fund a government that refuses to do things that they're duty-bound to do so."

Davidson said he hopes no Republicans, particularly in the Senate, vote to "facilitate" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, or President Joe Biden during the lame-duck session.

In other matters, Davidson said he feels "encouraged" by the call to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayrokas about the situation at the nation's southern border.

"He's not doing his duty to secure the border," Davidson said. "The Border Patrol agents have been pleading with us to try to do something to help them."

But the Biden administration has "corrupted the whole concept of the border," Davidson said. "It doesn't matter whether you come illegally or legally, they've turned ICE into a travel agency, sending people to the sanctuary city of their choice. Then they act offended when Republican governors have shipped people to the vice president's residence or Martha's Vineyard, but the reality is this problem is spilling throughout our country.

"It's causing huge problems and, of course, the cartels are benefiting, perhaps the most out of this, so we ought to at least agree to stop the cartels."

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