The White House declined to answer questions about $5.2 million in campaign contributions from Sam Bankman Fried to the US President Joe Biden and whether the money will be returned to the disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX FTT/USD.

attending a press briefing on December 13, Associated Press (AP) reporter Zeke Miller asked the White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre whether the President would return the donations.

“Is he asking all politicians who have received campaign donations that may have come from customer funds to return these funds?” asked Müller.

In response to him, Jean-Pierre said, “I’m covered by the Hatch Act here,” adding that she’s “limited in what I can say.”

She went on to say, “Anything to do with political donations, from here I would have to refer you to the DNC.”

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Jean-Pierre was referring to the Democratic National Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the American Democratic Party.

What is the Hatch Act?

A federal law called Hatch Act prohibits anyone working for the government executive branch from engaging in political campaigns.

When asked to comment on the President’s position on the issue, the White House Press Secretary reiterated that she was covered by the Hatch Act.

“I just can’t talk about political donations or anything related to that, I can’t talk about it from here,” she said.

Jean-Pierre was further pressed to comment on the issue, saying: “Even his opinion, even his thoughts on the contributions, donations – I can’t speak from here.”

December 13th was Bankman Fried calculated in the case of violations of the operations of the Federal Electoral Commission, donations in the name of others and violations of the donations laws.

With donations of $5.2 million, he was the second-biggest “CEO contributor” to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, behind the media magnate Michael Bloombergwho donated $56 million.

That…