Hours earlier than asserting his choice Wednesday to decrease tariffs on almost each nation on the planet for 90 days, President Donald Trump posted on Reality Social urging individuals to purchase shares.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” he wrote, signing it along with his initials.
At the least one GOP lawmaker took his recommendation: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who worships on the ft of Expensive Chief.
In response to Capitol Trades, which tracks congressional inventory buying and selling, Greene bought a handful of retail shares that had taken main hits following Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, together with Amazon, Apple, Lululemon, Nike, and Restoration {Hardware}. All of these retailers rely closely on commerce with China and different Asian nations, on which Trump has positioned extreme tariffs.
The shares have all risen since Trump’s lowered a few of his tariffs, whereas on the identical time exponentially growing his tariff on China.
For instance, when Greene made the commerce on Tuesday, Restoration {Hardware}’s inventory had fallen to 144 factors. After Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday, the inventory climbed to 160 factors as of press time—a pleasant 11% achieve for Greene.
It’s the same story for the high-end athletic clothes firm Lululemon, whose inventory fell to 244 factors on Tuesday—the day of Greene’s commerce—and now sits at 256 factors as of press time. That’s one other roughly 5% achieve for Greene.
Trump’s urging individuals to purchase inventory, coupled with Greene’s suspiciously timed trades, have Democrats calling for an investigation.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chuck Schumer of New York, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Adam Schiff of California, and Ron Wyden of Oregon despatched a letter Friday to the Securities and Alternate Fee chair calling for an investigation.
“It is unconscionable that as American families are concerned about their financial security during this economic crisis entirely manufactured by the President, insiders may have actively profited from the market volatility and potentially perpetrated financial fraud on the American public,” they wrote. “At this critical moment, the SEC must do its part to restore Americans’ faith in the rule of law and to preserve the integrity of the financial system, in accordance with its statutory mission.”
“What did Marjorie Taylor Greene know about the tariff announcements and what stock trades did she make? We need answers,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California wrote on Bluesky.
“I have signed a fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments. All of my investments are reported with full transparency,” Greene stated in an announcement to The Related Press.
We’re certain that Greene—who has an in depth relationship with Trump that features serving to him plan his unsuccessful effort to steal the 2020 election—simply had a hunch.
