Insider revelations: How was Trump tricked by encrypted propaganda posts?

Author: Rachael Bade & Caitlin Oprysko, POLITICO; Translator: Tim, PANews

On March 2, Trump announced on his "Truth Social" platform that he had instructed the Presidential Working Group to advance the strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies, including XRP, SOL, and ADA. At the time, the crypto community was excited and surprised: Why were BTC, ETH, and other valuable currencies not included in the strategic reserve? On the next day, March 3, Trump posted that the crypto reserve also included BTC and ETH. The crypto community is still puzzled by this "oolong incident". In the early morning of May 8, the famous American political media POLITICO gave the answer and broke the inside story of the crypto reserve post, which involved Trump's core circle of friends and many senior White House officials.

The text is as follows:

One ​​Sunday morning in early March, Trump posted a post on the Truth platform promoting the "Strategic Reserve of Cryptocurrency". A few hours later, he realized that he seemed to have been fooled.

That weekend, at Mar-a-Lago, an employee of the lobbying firm run by Brian Ballard attended the estate's donation event. She repeatedly stopped the president to lobby, promoting her willingness to promote the development of the gambling industry, and even handed him a tweet template she had prepared.

After Trump posted the post on social media, he realized that Ripple Labs, the company behind a cryptocurrency project mentioned in the post, was actually a client of Ballard. According to two anonymous people familiar with the matter, Trump was furious and said he was being used.

He told White House aides that month: "Ballard will not be involved in any future affairs." People familiar with the matter said that the president specifically mentioned the ban on Ballard in the conversation.

Since then, Ballard has become persona non grata in the White House.

Since Trump's return to Washington, Ballard has established himself as the top lobbyist in Washington politics. Reports about his company are often mentioned. He has hired White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Reports also always emphasize his decades-long friendship with Trump. Ballard has represented the Trump Organization on and off for many years and has been a major fundraiser for Trump's presidential campaign.

As a lobbyist who can "speak" to Trump, Brian Ballard's company has won an astonishing 130 new clients since the US election last November, including business giants such as Chevron, JPMorgan Chase, Palantir, Netflix, Bayer, United Airlines and T-Mobile. In April this year, POLITICO's parent company Axel Springer Group also hired Ballard to communicate and lobby the Trump administration.

Ballard's revenue in the first three months of 2025 was as high as $14 million, more than three times its lobbying revenue in the same period last year.

But there is a huge gap between Ballard's reputation and the White House's current view of him.

A photo of Trump taken on Inauguration Day hangs on the wall of Brian Ballard's new Washington, D.C. office. The photo was taken by POLITICO photographer M. Scott Mahaskey in his office on March 13, 2018. 

After the cryptocurrency post, Ballard has been at least temporarily excluded from the White House inner circle, and White House staff have been asked not to meet with him, according to three people familiar with the matter. But five people close to Trump said that the dissatisfaction with Ballard goes beyond that. Some White House officials believe that he is profiting from Trump's reputation and touting his relationship with the president and Wiles, which is actually far less close than he advertises.

Another ally close to Trump said: "A common way to annoy Trump is to make him feel that you are exploiting his reputation." The ally also pointed out that Ballard always exaggerates his status and role.

Trump understands that lobbyists want to make money, and he knows this well. But the question is, why does Ballard want to show off and promote himself?

The White House declined to comment.

In a statement, Ballard said he and his firm were “inured to false allegations from anonymous sources because of the firm’s success.” He told POLITICO that he had never touted his White House connections to attract clients, and he disputed the notion that he had been sidelined.

There are signs that he hasn’t completely severed ties with the White House: POLITICO reviewed invitations to Trump fundraisers sent to Ballard since the March incident, as well as a transcript of a call scheduled with a senior Trump administration official. Ballard’s clients have also continued to receive meetings with high-level government figures, such as when the president met with executives of the National Football League, a Ballard client, earlier this week.

“Despite the attempts of these anonymous sources, Ballard Partners remains committed to delivering the same outstanding results and efficient representation that we have been delivering for our clients for more than 25 years,” he said.

As for the Truth Social incident, a Ballard associate said there was no attempt to mislead the president about the letters.

But the situation appears to be causing some business headaches for Ballard. According to two people familiar with the matter, some Ballard clients have reached out to other Trump allies in an effort to meet with the president or people in his inner circle.

Others close to the inner circle have been more blunt.

"Ballard has presented himself as a universal lobbyist with unimpeded access to the Trump administration, but that is simply not true," said one of the four people familiar with the matter.

New Business Frenzy

Since Trump's victory in November, Ballard has seen a surge in new business, especially as Trump has used the president's overwhelming influence to launch an all-out offensive against his perceived political enemies.

Ballard’s clients have seen some success during the Trump administration. TikTok hired the firm last fall and is still operating in the U.S. thanks to Trump’s promise not to enforce a ban. BMW, another Ballard client, will benefit along with the entire auto industry after Trump announced a partial tariff reprieve last week.

One ​​of the firm’s first clients in Washington was U.S. tobacco giant Reynolds American, which makes the best-selling menthol cigarettes in the U.S. and went all-in on Trump in last year’s presidential election. That bet paid off days after the new Trump administration took office when Trump withdrew his proposal to ban menthol cigarettes.

Ripple Labs, an American cryptocurrency company, was mentioned in Trump’s cryptocurrency-related announcements, and its XRP token was also associated with it. Notably, the top financial regulator during the Trump administration has now withdrawn its appeal of a landmark enforcement case against the company. (PANews Note: On May 9, Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached a settlement agreement and planned to settle the case with $5,000)

Ballard has also been the president's "fundraising expert". As a powerful fundraiser, he has served as the chairman of the finance committee of every Republican presidential candidate in Florida since John McCain's campaign in 2008. He raised tens of millions of dollars for Trump's presidential campaign and the political action committees he supports, and served as the vice chairman of finance for Trump's 2016 inaugural committee.

Soon after Trump was sworn in in 2017, Ballard opened a company in Washington, DC. At that time, the business community and leaders of various countries were eager to get to know this political novice who entered the White House. In his first year in Washington, he quickly accumulated many well-known clients, and Ballard Partners ranked among the highest-earning lobbying agencies on K Street (a gathering place for Washington lobbying companies).

The company's lobbying revenue declined after Trump left office. Although Ballard Lobbying Group has many lobbyists with Democratic backgrounds, it still remains competitive with other old lobbying organizations in Washington.

Ballard Partners' office in Washington is the company's first branch outside of Florida. Today, the company has offices in nearly a dozen cities on three continents. Last year, Ballard launched a series of strategic cooperation with multiple government affairs companies around the world, with partners in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Ballard's past disputes with White House Chief of Staff Wiles

In some ways, there has always been a gap between Ballard's reputation as a top lobbyist in the Trump administration, which is inseparable from his past disputes with the president's chief of staff. Many insiders in the Trump administration who admire Wiles believe that Ballard pushed her out of his firm just as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was trying to destroy her career.

Wiles worked for Ballard Partners in Florida for many years before leaving in 2019, citing health issues. At the time, it was reported that Gov. DeSantis spread the word that he had instructed Ballard to fire her. But both Ballard and Wiles said DeSantis had nothing to do with her departure.

Some believe their relationship has since been repaired. As Ballard gradually integrated into the team during the 2024 campaign, Wiles took a positive attitude and was unwilling to hold grudges, according to two people close to him. What's more, his injection of funds into Trump's campaign coffers was particularly welcomed.

"Susie put the campaign first," said a Trump confidant.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles appears in the White House Rose Garden before the "Make America Rich Again" event on April 2, 2025. - Francis Chung, POLITICO

Nevertheless, many members of Trump's inner circle, despite their loyalty to the chief of staff, remain skeptical of him.

“People don’t forget,” Trump’s allies said.

Ballard said in a statement: “Susie Wiles was, is, and will remain a close friend of mine even after we leave politics, and any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

Ballard’s client list has also raised some eyebrows inside the White House. He recently signed partnerships with Harvard University and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, both of which have been publicly criticized by the president.

But the “Truth Social” incident was a turning point. That weekend, Ballard employees at Mar-a-Lago repeatedly asked Trump to issue the statement.

“He (Trump) had been putting her off (Ballard employee) before, and then she kept pestering him, and finally he just threw it to an assistant to deal with it,” described the incident by a person familiar with the situation.

Within minutes of the president’s announcement, David Sacks, the White House’s director of cryptocurrency affairs, angrily called Wiles to complain, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The White House was preparing to host a cryptocurrency summit in Washington next week, and the president’s singling out of some companies by name and ignoring others seemed inappropriate.

Wiles did not accompany the president that morning, and David Sacks began calling around to find out what was going on. Soon, White House officials realized that one of the clients mentioned in the Truth Social post was Ballard’s, and the tweet did not even mention Trump’s own fledgling cryptocurrency company.

Trump then followed up on the matter by adding the names of other cryptocurrency companies in a second Truth Social post. But it was too late, and Trump was furious.

Trump’s aides were also furious, accusing Ballard of assigning his staff to get Trump to promote products for his clients. One of the president's top aides even called to denounce Ballard.