Lawyer John Deaton claimed U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has violated her oath as a member of the Senate Banking Committee. Deaton alleges that Warren, tasked with overseeing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), “conspired” with close friend and SEC Chair Gary Gensler, providing him with pre-arranged questions and suggested answers for a Senate hearing.
‘Elizabeth Warren Violated Her Oath’
John Deaton, a well-known lawyer in the crypto community, slammed U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on social media platform X on Saturday, accusing her of violating her oath as a senator overseeing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Deaton’s post was in response to a shared Fox News video clip that presented evidence suggesting that Senator Warren coached SEC Chair Gary Gensler in preparation for a 2021 Senate hearing. Emails obtained from Warren’s office by the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project revealed that her economic advisor sent Gensler a list of questions the senator planned to ask the SEC chair, along with suggested answers for him. “Let me know if you’re okay with the questions as currently written,” the advisor asked Gensler. In a follow-up letter, Warren’s advisor further asked: “Let me know if it’s looking like the chair has any issues with the framing of the questions … definitely don’t want to put him in a tough spot.” During the hearing, Warren asked almost verbatim from the email.
“As a senator, sitting on the Banking Committee, Elizabeth Warren violated her oath,” Deaton alleged, elaborating:
Her job is to provide and engage in actual oversight of the SEC. Instead, she conspired with her close friend Gary Gensler, not only giving him the exact questions she would ask before a hearing, but also the suggested answers to those same questions.
“That isn’t oversight — it’s fraudulent, coached testimony before Congress. She literally said that she didn’t want to place Gensler in a tough spot. Are you f’ing kidding me?” the lawyer exclaimed. “Her job is to place the chairman of the SEC in a tough spot — asking hard-hitting or ‘tough’ questions.”
Noting that Warren is “the single biggest critic of Bitcoin and crypto in the U.S. Congress,” Deaton emphasized that the Massachusetts senator sits on the Senate Banking Committee overseeing the SEC, and yet “she hasn’t asked the SEC or Gensler about [Sam Bankman-Fried] SBF’s multiple meetings with Gensler and the SEC. She hasn’t questioned why or how Gensler missed SBF’s Fraud, considering his up and close meetings with SBF.”
The lawyer further raised questions about Gensler’s numerous meetings with SBF, contrasting them with the lack of engagement with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, “despite Coinbase begging for meetings and being the largest exchange in America and also a U.S. publicly traded company.” Deaton opined:
Warren preaches against crypto every chance she can, but doesn’t ask why Gensler missed FTX, Celsius Network, Luna/UST, etc.? Why not? She found time to help kill a couple banks that worked with crypto companies. Why not focus on the source of the problem: actual fraud?
“Is she not asking certain questions because of her own ties to SBF’s parents? SBF’s father — Joe Bankman wrote Warren’s tax plan in 2016. We know without a doubt that he helped SBF create all those shell companies to avoid taxes. SBF’s mother runs a PAC [Political Action Committee] to help Democrats, like Warren, get elected,” he concluded.
Do you agree with lawyer John Deaton that Senator Elizabeth Warren has violated her oath and conspired with SEC Chair Gary Gensler? Let us know in the comments section below.
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