Uncle Scam: Trump Administration Facing Insider Trading Allegations
Written by djfrosty on April 10, 2025
Congressional Democrats are calling out the Trump administration for what they claim is insider trading after his abrupt walkback of global tariffs. On Wednesday morning (April 9), President Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social media network shortly after the stock market opened in the United States: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” Hours later, he announced that he was pausing his wide-sweeping tariffs on other countries except China – he held firm on keeping tariffs on imports from that country at 125%. The markets rose after the news, after having fallen dramatically since his “Liberation Day” declaration of the global tariffs on April 2, with the S&P 500 up 9.5% at closing.
What raised red flags with Democrats was Trump’s signoff on Truth Social with his initials. It’s not a normal practice of his to do so, and the initials also stand for the Trump Media & Technology Group on the stock market ticker. The group’s stock value rose 22%. California Representative Adam Schiff highlighted the issue in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “So the question is between that tweet and Donald Trump’s announcement that he was reducing the tariffs on most other nations apart from China, the question is who knew what the President was gonna do and did people around the president trade stock knowing the incredible gyration the market was about to go through?”
Other Democratic lawmakers echoed Schiff’s outrage. Representative Steven Horsford challenged U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a hearing when Greer claimed he had no idea of Trump’s motives. “This is amateur hour, and it needs to stop. What does this even mean for your negotiating strategy? How are you in charge of negotiation if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the hell he is?” he asked. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also voiced her concerns in a post on X, writing: “I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor. Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
When questioned by reporters about when he decided to make the pause, Trump replied, “For a period of a time. I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump’s decision, sarcastically telling reporters that it was his “art of the deal” at play.