Trump Was Allegedly Tricked Into Promoting XRP Amid Ballard-Ripple Ties

Several political reports claim President Trump did not initially intend to put XRP in his Crypto Strategic Reserve. Instead, they suggest that lobbyist Brian Ballard manipulated him into doing so.

Although the President was allegedly furious at these events, this may not change XRP’s position in the Reserve. Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, vocally supports and has made large donations to Trump’s election campaign.

Bombshell Allegations Around Trump and XRP

Before the 2024 elections, President Trump campaigned on establishing a US Bitcoin Reserve, surprising the crypto industry when he included several altcoins in his proposal.

When Trump made a social media post a month into the office, it included SOL, ADA, and XRP in the mix, boosting the notoriety of these assets. Today, Politico made shocking allegations suggesting that this was not his intention.

Specifically, the report alleged that Brian Ballard, a lobbyist who has worked with Trump for years, used underhanded tactics. One of Ballard’s employees repeatedly petitioned Trump to endorse XRP and other altcoins in his post.

Most notably, Ripple Labs is also a Ballard client, which paid the lobbyist $60,000 last year. When the President discovered this, he apparently raged.

Ripple Listed as a Ballard Partners Client. Source: OpenSecrets.

Meanwhile, the US president has now exiled Brian Ballard. The community reacted strongly to these events, suggesting Trump might remove XRP and other altcoins from the Strategic Reserve. However, this may be overstated for a few reasons.

Trump was allegedly angry over being misled, not because he had a specific distaste for XRP. The Reserve announcement occurred shortly before Trump’s Crypto Summit, and David Sacks worried about perceived favoritism. Nonetheless, Ripple has been a good friend to the President.

President Trump exiled a top lobbyist for promoting Ripple's XRP. The Strategic Reserve is buy-only BTC and hold.The Crypto Stockpile is sell-only and maybe hold.Bitcoin maximalism is ascendant. pic.twitter.com/4YA2UOfxMZ

— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) May 8, 2025

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, vocally supports Trump’s crypto policies. He donated millions to the President’s Inauguration and has continued maintaining this relationship.

In other words, why would Trump decide to punish XRP for Ballard’s actions? These allegations are indeed shocking, but the market evidently doesn’t expect turmoil for XRP at this time.

XRP Monthly Price Chart. Source: BeInCrypto

To be clear, neither Trump, Ballard, nor Ripple employees have responded to these allegations. Regarding XRP’s place in the Reserve, Trump may simply let bygones be bygones.

It’s important to understand that while the US president signed an executive order to ‘assess the establishment’ of a strategic crypto reserve, no developments have been made yet.