President Donald Trump is being accused of insider trading after announcing an abrupt pause on his tariffs on Wednesday.
Prior to revealing the 90-day pause, which came just 14 hours after the tariffs took effect, Trump told his followers on Truth Social that it was “A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”
Critics immediately slammed the president for what they saw as market manipulation, given that his post came just hours before the pause that led the S&P 500 to surge more than 9%.
The attacks against Trump began with users on social media who called for the president’s immediate removal.
Some linked his signing the tweet, which he often does to note he personally wrote it, with the president plugging the symbol for his cryptocurrency “DJT”
“We just witnessed the biggest financial crime in history,” one X user wrote. “@realDonaldTrump told followers to ‘Buy DJT’ on his OWN app—then paused tariffs, spiking his stock. DJT went from $16 to nearly $22 in hours. That’s insider trading. Martha Stewart went to prison for less.”
Others didn’t think the plug was to hype his own coin, but that he endorsed the post to let traders know the tariff pause was incoming.
Prominent Democrats soon weighed in as well. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called for a ban on insider trading in Congress in response to the market surge.
“Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now,” she wrote. “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.”
It wasn’t long before Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called for Congress to open a full-blown investigation into Trump’s actions.
“Is Donald Trump’s inner circle illegally profiting off of these huge swings in the stock market by insider trading?” Schiff asked. “Congress must find out.”
It remains unclear what will happen during the 90-day pause. The White House has not publicly commented on the insider trading allegations or Schiff’s comments.
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