Jean-Pierre won't say whether Biden will return donations
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not engage when asked specifically about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest, and deferred to the Hatch Act when pressed if President Joe Biden planned to return the more than $5 million in donations that were given to his 2020 campaign.
The Hatch Act prevents federal employees, like Jean-Pierre, from engaging in political campaigning.
Jean-Pierre also wouldn't give Biden's opinion on the arrest and collapse of FTX. However, she was more willing to talk about what could be done to put regulations in place in the crypto sphere.
![](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/04599be6-688e-47a5-8186-d0e91b4484e3/karine-jean-pierre_hpEmbed_20221213-153448_3x2.jpg)
"This administration has consistently urged Congress to take action to address regulatory gaps posed by digital assets and support legislative efforts to enact crypto legislation to better protect American consumers that just last month Secretary [of the Treasury Janet] Yellen, in fact, called on Congress to 'move quickly to fill the regulatory gaps.' That's a quote that she said herself and the administration has identified what those gaps look like," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "But again, we have urged this is something for Congress to do."
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams urged politicians to return the millions of dollars donated by Bankman-Fried at a press conference earlier Tuesday.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle