President Trump's nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday shared private messages between himself and crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss after they reportedly urged against his confirmation.
Brian Quintenz, who originally appeared poised to sail through the Senate confirmation process, has yet to advance out of the Senate Agriculture Committee after several delayed votes.
"I’ve never been inclined to release private messages," Quintenz wrote in a post on X. "But in light of my support for the President and belief that he might have been misled, I’ve posted here the messages that include the questions Tyler Winklevoss asked me pertaining to their prior litigation with the CFTC."
"I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise," he added. "It’s my understanding that after this exchange they contacted the President and asked that my confirmation be paused for reasons other than what is reflected in these texts."
In the messages, Tyler Winklevoss apparently asked Quintenz for his thoughts on a complaint that his crypto exchange Gemini had filed with the CFTC's inspector general, suggesting the agency had "totally abused the deliberative process privilege."
Quintenz responded by saying he would "commit to you to having a fair and reasonable review of the matter." However, he also noted that any solutions should be left to a fully confirmed chair.
"If anyone at the commission is communicating with you in attempt to undermine or color my potential consideration of these things, regardless of how personal or impactful they have been, I would give that careful thought," Quintenz added.
The conversation appeared to spiral from there, as Winklevoss raised numerous questions about the CFTC nominee's response, including how he plans to align with the president's agenda.
"Cultural reform, which includes rectifying what happened to us should be the highest priority," Winklevoss said. "I'd like to understand your thoughts on this how you plan to align with President Trump and the Administration's mandate to end the lawfare and make amends for it."
