Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) are demanding that the Office of Government Ethics investigate what they say are potential conflicts of interest of White House and executive branch officials who may have made financial transactions with insider knowledge of President Trump’s 90-day pause on steep tariffs.
The Democratic senator want the White House to provide information about potential violations of federal ethics and insider trading laws before Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that he would drop reciprocal tariffs against most trading partners to 10 percent for the next three months.
The stock market shot up in response to the announcement, resulting in the third-biggest one-day for the S&P 500 since World War II and the biggest one-day gain for the tech-heavy NASDAQ since 2001.
Schiff and Gallego note that Trump posted on Truth Social at 9:33 a.m. EDT Wednesday: “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well.” They add that Trump then posted a few minutes later: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
“Mere hours after his post, President Trump announced at 1:18 PM via Truth Social that he would be pausing most of the sweeping tariffs he had announced just days prior, causing stocks to soar,” they wrote.
“This sequence of events raises grave legal and ethics concerns. The president, his family and his advisors are uniquely positioned to be privy to and take advantage of non-public information to inform their investment decisions,” they added.
The Senate Democrats highlighted that Tesla, the company led by Elon Musk, one of Trump’s advisors, gained 18 percent in value immediately following Trump’s announcement.
Schiff and Gallego asked White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Jamieson Greer, the acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, in an April 10 letter to conduct an inquiry into whether Trump or members of his family and administration “engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions informed by the advance knowledge of non-public information regarding his changes to tariff policy.”
They are asking whether any White House or executive branch agency employees, including special government employees such as Musk, violated federal ethics laws or regulations, “specifically with regard to stock trades or financial transactions preceding the president’s April 9 announcement” on tariffs.
Schiff has previously sent letters to the Office of Government Ethics and the White House seeking information about Musk’s compliance with federal conflicts of interest, ethics and reporting requirements, given his outside business interests.
The Senate Democrats want a review of any communications between White House and executive branch employees and external parties, such as financial institutions, brokers, dealers, investment advisors or business associates, that may have included non-public information.
Schiff and Gallego want the government ethics office to review and produce any periodic transaction reports filed by any government officials in proximity to the president’s April 9 tariff announcement.
“We look forward to reviewing your responses on this important matter,” they wrote.
The Hill has requested comment from the White House.
Filip Timotija contributed
