SCOOP: Dem Senators Press Over ‘Trump’ Engraved Diamond Ring Gift

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0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter Monday night to key Trump Administration and government officials asking about a diamond ring that they say currently has unknown whereabouts.

In a letter, shared with Newsweek, addressed to the Director of Presidential Gifts, the General Services Administration Administrator and the Archivist of the United States, the Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers on the “18-karat gold ring encrusted with 321 diamonds and 75 gemstones that the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) gifted to President Trump.”

The lawmakers say that the item was gifted “just weeks before the Administration announced it was exempting European diamonds” from what the senators identify as “chaotic tariffs.”

The senators said, “To date, we are not aware of any public reporting indicating the current location of the ring.”

The lawmakers said that when the AWDC was asked about the gift being a potential bribe, they were told it was a gift to the United States and not to Trump personally.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House, GSA, and the Archivist for comment on the letter and on the whereabouts of the ring, which is estimated to be worth about $30k.

According to the letter, the AWDC gave the ring to the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, in June of 2026. The lawmakers say that as of July 2026, the White House “confirmed that the ring had not yet been presented to President Trump.”

The diamond tariff exemption was reinstated on July 24, just a few weeks after the gift was announced.

Some of the questions the lawmakers ask in the letter:

Questions for the White House Gift Office:

Questions for the GSA and National Archives and Records Administration:

In the letter, the senators say, “The circumstances in which AWDC gifted this ring, and the lack of clarity about its disposition, raise significant questions about whether the President has in fact accepted the ring as part of a quid pro quo agreement to reduce diamond tariffs.”

When the gift was received, Trump sent out a video thanking his “friends from Antwerp,” according to CBS News reports.

The gift was announced June 28 although the date when it was given is still unknown.

This is not the first time the Trump administration is facing quid pro quo accusations.

The most public example of gift controversy surrounding the White House involves Qatar. In May of 2025, Trump accepted a $400-million Boeing 747-8 from Qatar.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the plane, calling it “the largest bribe from a foreign government in American history.”

The White House has said that the gifted plane would be transferred to Trump’s presidential library when his term ends.

Even some Republicans, like Senator Rand Paul, criticized the deal at that time.

“I wonder if our ability to judge [Qatar’s] human rights record will be clouded by the fact of this large gift,” Paul said to Fox News.

During that same month, Trump signed an economic exchange agreement with Qatar worth $1.2 trillion. Trump dismissed the criticism of the gifted plane and said it would be “stupid” not to accept it.

PDF2026-10-5-Letter-to-GSA-re-Diamond-Ring.pdf.PDFDownloadContact Newsweek editors on this story: Carlo Versano and Geoffrey Rowland.