Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett has revealed that Congressman French Hill will be taking Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan as his guest to the State of the Union on March 4. Hill campaigned to get the exchange’s executive released from a Nigerian prison where he spent eight months on wrongful charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
Terrett revealed that Hill led the charge with members of Congress to persuade the Biden administration to secure the release of Gambaryan, saying he had been wrongfully detained in Nigeria. In October 2024, a court in Abuja dropped the criminal charges against Tigran Gambaryan on medical grounds.
French Hill wants Tigran Gambaryan to accompany him to the State of the Union
🚨SCOOP: Congressman @RepFrenchHill is taking @binance executive @TigranGambaryan as his guest to the State of the Union on Tuesday. Hill campaigned to get Gambaryan released from a Nigerian prison where he spent eight months on wrongful charges of tax evasion and money…
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) February 28, 2025
Congressman French Hill has said that he will be taking Binance’s executive Tigran Gambaryan as his guest to the State of the Union on March 4. Hill advocated for the Binance executive’s release from a Nigerian prison where he was held for eight months.
The Binance executive was detained in February 2024 and later jailed on tax evasion and money laundering charges in the West African nation. Gambaryan had been invited to the country by Nigerian officials to discuss a dispute between the Nigerian government and Binance over its history of money laundering. The discussions were also about the exchange’s alleged role in devaluing the Nigerian national currency.
The firm’s executive had been held in the country’s Kuje prison, where his family and attorneys argued he suffered acutely from a herniated disc in his spine that required immediate surgery. The compliance officer with Binance had also contracted double pneumonia and malaria while at the Nigerian prison.
Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial crime compliance at Binance Holdings Ltd., center, attends court in Abuja, Nigeria, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. David Exodus/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Hill revealed that he had visited the crypto exchange’s executive in Kuje prison to advocate for his wrongful detention by the Nigerian government. The congressman had suggested that he wanted “him home, and we can let Binance, his employer, deal with the Nigerians.” Hill also joined other signatories to write a June 4 letter to President Biden urging him to work for the Binance executive’s release
Winston & Strawn law firm acknowledged it played an important role in convincing the Nigerian government to drop its charges against Gambaryan and release him from prison. The law firm argued that Tigran was considered a pawn in the Nigerian government’s efforts to punish Binance for not sharing more information about its customers’ identities. The firm also disclosed that the Nigerian government wanted to extract concessions from Binance.
House Speaker Johnson invites Trump to address Congress on Tuesday
President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on March 4, which will be his first major speech since his inauguration. House Speaker Mike Johnson formally invited the President in January to address Congress at the State of the Union. Johnson wrote that the address would allow Trump to share his “America First vision for our legislative future.”
“Your administration and the 119th Congress working together have the chance to make these next four years some of the most consequential in our nation’s history.”
-House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson thanked the President for his “strong leadership and bold action” in the first days of his presidency and asserted that “America’s Golden Age has begun.”
The President’s speech is expected to focus on his priorities, economic plans, and foreign affairs agenda. Trump will deliver the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. ET, following the tradition of newly inaugurated presidents.
The U.S. Constitution requires the President to address Congress on the state of the nation and recommend policies, but it does not specify how or when. Newly inaugurated presidents after Ronald Reagan in 1981 have delivered early speeches to Congress that serve the same purpose but were not technically called a State of the Union.
U.S. Democrats revealed that Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan will give the party’s formal rebuttal after Trump speaks. The State of the Union address will be broadcasted live on LiveNOW from FOX, which will also air the Democratic response.
The President is expected to confirm his March 4 address, but the White House has yet to formally accept Johnson’s invitation. In previous administrations, the U.S. presidents delivered a State of the Union address in January or February to outline their administration’s priorities.
