Senator Adam Schiff has said Democrats in Congress will begin probing President Donald Trump’s administration for insider trading following the recent volatility in the markets caused by his shifting tariffs.
Despite insisting that he would hold firm on his sweeping tariffs on trading partners around the world, Trump announced a 90-day pause for most countries on Wednesday. However, the president still increased tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 percent.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment outside of regular working hours.
Alex Brandon/AP
Why It Matters
The stock market jumped quickly on Wednesday following Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause on most tariffs.
The markets had seen days of decline following the president’s announcement of his “liberation day” tariffs on April 2, and economists warned of a possible recession.
What To Know
On Wednesday, Schiff pointed to a statement that Trump posted to social media hours before he announced his 90-day tariff pause. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Responding to the post, Schiff said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter: “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?”
Schiff said that Democrats were writing to the White House to demand answers, adding that he was “fully cognizant of the fact that the White House is probably the last place to be forthcoming about this.”
He added: “We in Congress need to do more than demand answers. We need to do the oversight necessary to get those answers.”
What People Are Saying
Senator Schiff said in his video on Wednesday: “Look, this is a president who is trading in his own meme coin, even as he’s president, his kids are trading in their own cryptocurrency. You’ve got people like Elon Musk who are doing their own conflicted self dealing in the administration. In any administration this corrupt it is more than necessary to ask, were people personally profiting from insider information while people’s savings, their retirement accounts were being torched?”
Asked why he paused tariffs, President Trump told reporters on Wednesday: “Well, I thought that people were jumping a little out of line, they were getting yippy… they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in a video posted on X: “Who close to Trump knew that he was going to suspend the tariffs? Which of his Mar-a-Lago friends or his billionaire advisers were able to capitalize on that inside information? Why did Trump send out that post to his supporters earlier in the day? The bottom line is the chaotic nature of this tariff policy with Trump’s position changing every single hour gives ample opportunity for any individual who has early access to information about the White House’s change in position to make boatloads of money, either by investing at the right time or pulling their money out of the market at the right time. This entire White House is one giant grift.”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X: “Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now. 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.”
Spencer Hakimian, the founder of Tolou Capital Management, wrote on X: “NASDAQ call volume spiked minutes before the 90 day tariff pause was announced. Not a good look at all.”
What Happens Next
Schiff urged whistleblowers to come forward to help the investigation.
“We have tremendously benefited from courageous people coming forward, so we invite whistleblowers to step forward, but at the end of the day, we’re gonna get to the bottom of this, whether people were profiting off the pain of the American people,” he said.
