Who?Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) — Senate Banking and Commerce Committees LISTEN: Laslo & LummisAsk a Pol asks:What do you make of President Donald Trump's pardon of Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht? Key Lummis:“The more I learned about it, the more I think it was the right thing to do,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “This is one where the punishment truly didn't fit the crime, and so I think this was the right thing to do. And I've never met him — I've met his mother; very nice woman, very — she's not in denial. I mean, she knows that her son was dealing drugs using the Bitcoin blockchain. But two life sentences for — it just seems wrong.” ICYMI — Lummis shares her optimism for new crypto-friendly CongressCaught our ear:“I think that the people who are being appointed reflect President Trump's less — he's not hostile,” Lummis tells us. “And I'm not saying he's wildly pro-digital assets, but he's not hostile.”Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), slightly edited for clarity.TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Cynthia LummisSCENE: Initially, Ask a Pol bumps into Sen. Cynthia Lummis outside the Senate chamber, and we ask our main question. She tells us she’s still gotta vote and to hold tight. After voting, Sen. Lummis approaches us and immediately jumps into answering our question. Cynthia Lummis: “You know, the more I learned about it, the more I think it was the right thing to do. I did not realize that — although this Ross [Ulbricht], I forget his last name…”Matt Laslo: “Yeah, it’s hard to pronounce.”CL: “…Ross — or Russ? — was clearly dealing drugs on the Bitcoin blockchain or using it. You know, clearly he deserved to be prosecuted, and he was guilty. But he got two life sentences. Two of the FBI agents that investigated him stole some of that Bitcoin.”ML: “Really?”CL: “Yeah. And then another person who was involved in that drug dealing didn't do any time in jail. Something — this is one where the punishment truly didn't fit the crime, and so I think this was the right thing to do. And I've never met him — I've met his mother. I've met his mother. Yeah, very nice woman, very — she's not in denial. I mean, she knows that her son was dealing drugs using the Bitcoin blockchain. But two life sentences for — it just seems wrong.”ML: “Some of your colleagues say there was child sex trafficking and murder for hire stuff, at least going on on this site, not necessarily tied to him, but…?”CL: “Yeah, I don't know about that. I don't know, I don't know if he was involved in that. But when you look at other people that were in the orbit of that, you know, criminal enterprise, it just seemed like the sentence was crazy, and he has served, what, ten years or so.”ML: “Yeah? Maybe even more…”*CORRECTION: He was convicted in 2015. CL: “Yeah.”ML: (inaudible) CL: “Yeah, to me that this is commuting it to time served, is that what the president did?”ML: “I believe so.”NOPE: “…full and unconditional pardon…”CL: “Yeah.ML: “Busy week, ma'am.”CL: “Well, I know. These executive orders have been coming right now. And so I don't know all the details, but that's what I know. So I'm just comfortable with what — I am comfortable with what he did, the president.” ML: “What do you think about the new SEC regulatory meetings, or whatever it is. It’s in my notes. So I can't read my notes. Their new regulatory crypto task force.”CL: “Yeah, I'm excited about it. [Commissioner] Hester [“crypto mom”] Peirce, who is at the SEC, is very knowledgeable about digital assets, and so I think she'll be — I think she'll be involved in shaping it. I think she'll be able to go through and look at pending agency guidance, pending rules, pending lawsuits and be able to sort out what's very legitimate and what is of concern. And by legitimate, I mean, would this case have been brought if it didn't involve cryptocurrency or digital assets, and if the answer’s, ‘Yeah, it would have been brought regardless,’ it's probably a legitimate case. But if a case is being brought or a rule is being drafted only to apply to this one asset, it looks kinda punitive, and Hester will be able to cut through that.”ML: “Do you think that would be a sea change, or is it part of the bigger — you still need a new head of the SEC and stuff like that?”Every bit helps!Support our independent crypto journalism by finding us on Venmo, PayPal, Cash App — or just buy us a beer!CL: “Yeah, when [Trump’s head of SEC nominee] Paul Atkins comes in and is confirmed, he also is knowledgeable about digital assets. Quite frankly, [former SEC chair] Gary Gensler was knowledgeable. The problem was, he was — that whole administration was hostile towards digital assets: the White House, the FDIC, Treasury, the Fed, the bank supervision people at the Fed, the bank compliance ...
