Trump supports ethics laws as long as he is exempt
Just a few months ago, President Trump was an enthusiastic supporter of legislation that would ban members of Congress from owning or trading stock. In an interview with TIME Magazine on April 22, Trump said he would "absolutely" sign such legislation.
Three months later, legislation that would ban members of Congress from owning or trading stocks, commodities, futures, and cryptocurrencies was approved by a Congressional committee. Initially, Trump was non-committal, telling a reporter that he liked the legislation "conceptually." A few hours later, Trump took to Truth Social to lambaste the author of the bill, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO):
I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats. It’s a great Bill for her, and her “husband,” but so bad for our Country! I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the “whims” of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!
What happened? Trump reportedly was told by opponents of the bill that it would force him to sell his stock, crypto, and other investments. That's not the case. The bill's divestment provisions are explicitly timed to exempt Trump. Hawley talked to Trump and claimed that once Trump realized he would not have to sell his assets, he was back on board.
But, in a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stopped short of endorsing Hawley's bill. Leavitt said Trump “supports the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves.”
Many people believe that members of Congress should be prohibited from trading stocks because they have access to information unavailable to the general public. For example, some members have advance notice of whether legislation that would positively or negatively affect certain companies is likely to be approved by Congress. Members receive this information as part of a public trust. It should not be used for personal gain.
Members of Congress, however, typically cannot directly control policy that would impact the value of publicly traded companies or other assets. Each member holds just one of 535 votes.
That is why it makes no sense for the president to be excluded from a stock trading ban. The president has control over the entire federal bureaucracy and, as Trump has demonstrated repeatedly, can implement significant changes unilaterally. Absent a veto override, no legislation will become law without the president's signature. Further, the president has access to vastly more information than a typical member of Congress.
And no other president has leveraged the power of the presidency for personal financial gain like Trump.
How Hawley exempts Trump
Hawley’s bill was approved by the Senate Government Affairs Committee last week in an 8-7 vote, with all seven of the committee’s Democratic members and Hawley in support. All other Republicans opposed the bill, which did not initially include a ban on stock trading by the president and vice president.
In April, Hawley introduced the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments, or PELOSI, Act, a shot at the former Democratic Speaker, who has been criticized for her active stock trading. The bill would have banned members of Congress from owning, buying, or selling stocks and other investment assets.
While the PELOSI Act had support from some of Hawley’s Republican colleagues, he could not secure majority support in the committee. So Hawley turned his attention to Democrats. The first order of business was renaming the legislation. It is now called the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions, or HONEST Act. The revised bill also extends its provisions to the president and vice president.
Under the HONEST Act, the president, vice president, and members of Congress would be banned from purchasing new stocks on the day the bill takes effect and banned from selling stocks 90 days after that. But elected officials who are already in office will not have to completely divest from their holdings until they begin a new term. Since Trump is in his second term, the divestiture clause will never apply to him.
Nevertheless, with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, the HONEST Act still faces an uphill battle.
The problem with the status quo
Federal government employees are prohibited from participating in any matter that may impact the financial interests of a company they own stock in, regardless of whether the matter could impact the stock price. But members of Congress are not considered employees of the federal government, and are therefore allowed to trade stock with only narrow restrictions.
Under current law, members of Congress are only prohibited from trading stocks based on “insider information.” But this is incredibly difficult to enforce, as it can be nearly impossible to prove the exact reason someone traded a stock.
At the end of July, for example, the House Ethics Committee released a report after a years-long investigation into a trade made by Congressman Mike Kelly’s (R-PA) wife Victoria. In April 2020, Kelly learned that the Trump administration was going to launch an investigation that could lead to tariffs benefiting Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel company with a plant in his district — a move that Kelly had been personally lobbying for. The next day, Victoria Kelly bought 5,000 shares of the company for $23,075. The news was not made public for five days. Victoria Kelly sold all of her shares in the company in January 2021, making a $64,476.06 profit.
According to the House Ethics Committee’s report, Victoria Kelly made additional purchases of Cleveland-Cliffs stocks in 2024, “when the congressman was again working on an issue of importance to the company.”
But Victoria Kelly did not cooperate with the House Ethics Committee investigation, and therefore the House Ethics Committee was “ultimately unable to confirm whether Mrs. Kelly received nonpublic information from her husband or what her intent was in purchasing the Cleveland-Cliffs stock.” The report stated that the stock purchase “raised significant concerns for the Committee, even if it did not rise to the level of insider trading or clearly violate conflict of interest rules.”
Many members of Congress have also taken advantage of Trump’s changing tariff policies. A report by the Campaign Legal Center found that in the 55-day period between Trump’s first memo on tariffs and his April 9 announcement rolling them back, “53 members made over 2,200 stock trades valued between $34.9 million and $140 million.” (Members of Congress are only required to report their stock trades in ranges.) Many of the trades involved companies directly impacted by the policy changes, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and BNP Paribas.
In 2023, Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) spouse sold up to $500,000 of Intel stock on December 29. In March 2024, Bloomberg reported that the Department of Defense was canceling a $2.5 billion grant to Intel. A spokesperson for Blumenthal, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that the sale was associated with his wife’s “family investment fund.” The spokesperson added that the fund has financial advisors who “make investment decisions entirely independently of her.” The spokesperson said that Blumenthal did not own individual stocks.
Evidently, Republican dissenters on the panel argued that the bill, should it become law, would punish the wealthy and discourage certain people from running for office. IDK, sounds like a winning proposition to me.
In the new abnormal, the self-righteous King points his greasy finger at the commotion of untamed Donkeys while his long-nosed heard of Dumbos stampede upon US(a) serfs. Of course he wants to keep his stash of rewards handy to buy off complicity while deluding himself the People will contentedly fight over peanut spillage. FEUDal "lords" can't build castle walls high or thick enuff to hide from what's marchin toward them (or in their precious store houses). It's abundantly obvious that corruption is rampant, the stench of their treason lamely disguised in another ludicrous acronym. FARTers forever⁉️ (Fascist American Republican Traitors). HAUL He scratching his head while 47 scratches his BBButt.