'Sabotage': Trump attacks Hawley for pushing bill that would ban congressional and presidential stock trading

Numerous members of Congress have gotten fabulously rich making well-timed investments.

Multiple bills have been introduced in recent years that would ban congressional stock trading, including Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley's Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act — the PELOSI Act.

Despite the opposition from his Republican peers — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), for instance, warned of possible "unintended consequences" — Hawley successfully got the bill through through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

President Trump was none too pleased with his longtime Republican ally in the Senate, suggesting in a strongly worded Truth Social post that Hawley was a "second-tier Senator" being used by Democrats to undermine him in an apparent act of "sabotage."

Hawley reintroduced the PELOSI Act in April, noting, "Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public. It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body."

The name of the bill is a not-so-subtle jab at one of the most brazen alleged insider traders in Congress, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), whose annual salary is now around $174,000 but who has a net worth of $263.39 million, according to Quiver Quantitative.

Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last year, President Donald Trump demanded that Pelosi be prosecuted for alleged insider trading after her husband dumped 2,000 of his shares in Visa — valued at roughly $500,000 — two months before the company was sued by the Department of Justice for allegedly monopolizing the debit markets. Visa stock dropped by 5% following the announcement of the DOJ's civil antitrust suit.

Pelosi is certainly not alone.

In his Blaze Originals documentary, "Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich," James Poulos, the host of BlazeTV's "Zero Hour" and the editor at large of Blaze Media, highlighted some of the "most egregious transactions" members of Congress have directly or indirectly pulled off in recent years — like making big investments in defense contractors on the eve of the war in Ukraine — without remorse or consequence.

Around the time of its reintroduction, Trump indicated that he would support such a ban.

However, the bill debated in committee on Wednesday would not just bar lawmakers in Congress and their spouses from buying, selling, or holding individual stocks while in office — it would apply to the American president and vice president as well.

'Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments.'

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he likes the legislation "conceptually," adding that "Nancy Pelosi became rich by having inside information. She made a fortune with her husband, and I think that's disgraceful. So in that sense, I'd like it, but I'd have to really see — you know I study these things very carefully, and this just happened, so I'll take a look at it."

A White House official speaking to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity claimed that Hawley blindsided the president's team with the bill, the original version of which would have reportedly required Trump and Vance to sell off their investments starting in 2027.

Hawley changed the bill so that officeholders would not have to divest until the beginning of their next terms, meaning Trump would be exempt.

— (@)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the change, suggesting that the prohibition "should apply to everybody or nobody."

Nevertheless, the bill passed committee 8-7 — with all Republicans but Hawley voting in opposition.

After the vote, Hawley said in a statement, "Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments. It's time to find out where members stand. It’s time we restore trust in Congress and ban all members from trading and holding stocks."

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Trump subsequently attacked Hawley on Truth Social, writing, "The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to 'Target' me for a long period of time, and they're using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them. I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with."

Trump suggested further that Hawley "is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats. It’s a great Bill for [Pelosi], 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!"

The president also took issue with Hawley for siding with Democrats against Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott's attempt to add a report of controversial stock trading by Pelosi and her family to the bill — a possible deal-breaker for Democrats — and to add an exemption for the president and vice president.

When asked for comment on whether Trump's view changed in light of Hawley's alteration to the bill, the White House referred Blaze News back to the president's Truth Social post.

A poll conducted in 2023 by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation found that 86% of Americans favored barring members of Congress and their family members from trading stocks. When broken down by political affiliation, 87% of Republican respondents, 88% of Democratic respondents, and 81% of independents supported the proposal.

The poll found that 87% of Americans also supported prohibiting the president, the vice president, and Supreme Court justices from trading stocks in individual companies.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Shark Tank' Legend Destroys Economy Narrative w/ One Fact

S&P 500 hits new record high following months of Trump tariff doom and gloom

Just weeks into President Donald Trump's second term, the S&P 500 — which had risen over 20% in the previous two years — rocketed to record highs, driven up in part by a substantive increase in corporate earnings as well as the "Trump bump."

After marking its all-time high of 6,144.15 on Feb. 19, the index soon began to slide, prompting anxiety among some investors and doom-saying from various analysts, especially over the potential impact of the president's tariff proposals.

For instance, Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at National Alliance Securities, told the New York Times a month ahead of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements, "The tariff rhetoric has become daily and extreme, sentiment is awful and trading is on edge."

In the days immediately following Trump's April 2 announcements, the S&P 500 had its worst day since COVID-19 crashed the economy in 2020, then shed many trillions in market value, prompting more of the concerns and shirt-rending that would become customary over subsequent weeks.

After months of doom and gloom, the S&P 500 hit a new record on Friday, marking a stunning comeback from April. At market open, the S&P 500 went north of 6,154.79.

CNBC suggested that the comeback — what Bloomberg indicated is "shooting toward the second-biggest percentage-point recovery in history" — was driven in part by strong corporate earnings, a stable labor market, and new energy in the AI trade. It certainly doesn't hurt that trepidation over tariffs has largely given way to optimism over Trump's trade deals.

The possibility that Trump might not ultimately implement his Liberation Day tariffs may also have been factored into investors' optimism. After all, the rise came on the heels of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noting that Trump's July tariff deal deadline "is not critical" and "could be extended."

There's also the matter of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's recent revelations to Bloomberg News that the U.S. and China finalized its trade deal this week and that the Trump administration has imminent plans to reach trade deals with 10 other major trading partners.

"We're going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind," said Lutnick.

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"The markets are looking forward, seeing lower interest rates, less regulation in the banking sector, a shift from austerity to stimulus in Europe, and a less biting inflation and tariff environment," Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, told CNBC. "This sure isn’t the stagflation story we've been told to brace for."

Paul Stanley, chief investment officer at Granite Bay Wealth Management, said to CNN regarding the S&P 500's $9.8 trillion roundtrip, "The market is betting on continued progress on trade and a de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East is giving investors confidence."

Entrepreneur and business expert Carol Roth told Blaze News that "it's important to remember that the market is not the economy, and that other factors, including the Federal Reserve and government policy, have impacted the market, particularly over the last couple of decades."

"The president's heavy-handed approach to tariffs was not expected by the market, but as there had been more certainty gained regarding tariff policy and a belief that further de-escalation is more likely than escalation, the market has moved past that hurdle," explained Roth. "In recent days, commentary from Fed members that suggests a Fed rate cut may be on the table for July has supported risk assets."

Roth noted, however, that "any long-tail effects from tariffs that show up later in the year, or challenges that arise from financing/refinancing our massive debt and deficit could shift the outlook and impact market returns."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump raises eyebrows by sharing video claiming he's 'purposely CRASHING the market'

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows Friday by sharing a video on Truth Social that claims he purposefully crashed the stock market to "push cash into treasuries." Trump's timing was especially provocative because his rollout of tariffs the previous day resulted in a multi-trillion dollar market wipeout.

Trump shared a video by a supporter that was posted to X Thursday evening with the caption, "Trump is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers."

The video — which appropriates narration from a March 13 Instagram post by finance influencer Brian Decker — first appeared on a TikTok page that previously accused Hollywood elites of eating mermaids.

In an apparent validation of the video and Decker's core theory, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller noted, "Genius! You have to watch this video!"

In the video, a seemingly computer-generated voice states: "Trump is crashing the stock market by 20% this month, but he's doing it on purpose, and this is why Warren Buffet just said Trump is making the best economic moves he's seen in over 50 years."

There appears to be no evidence of Warren Buffett publicly making such an assertion in recent weeks.

'He's taking from the rich short-term and handing it to the middle class through lower prices.'

On the contrary, in a CBS News interview that aired nearly two weeks before the TikTok video was published, Buffett told talking head Norah O'Donnell, "Tariffs are actually — we've had a lot of experience with them — they’re an act of war, to some degree."

When asked whether tariffs might lead to higher inflation, Buffett said, "Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn't pay 'em!"

According to the TikTok video, Trump intentionally crashed the stock market in order to "push cash into treasuries, which forces the [Federal Reserve] to slash interest rates in May, and those lower rates give the Fed the ability to refinance trillions of debt very inexpensively. It also weakens the dollar and drops mortgage rates."

The narrator notes further that Trump's tariffs amount to a "genius play," forcing "companies to build here to dodge them. It also forces farmers to sell more of their products here in the U.S. to bring grocery prices way down. We've already seen this with eggs."

The video shared by the Republican president concludes by asserting he is effectively engaged in a wealth redistribution scheme: "Now remember, 94% of all stocks are owned only by 8% of Americans so Trump, he's taking from the rich short-term and handing it to the middle class through lower prices."

Blaze News reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

'It's definitely not some sort of fringe conspiracy theory.'

There has been speculation in recent days and weeks that Trump has, as Decker hypothesized, been pushing for a crash or at the very least significant market chaos.

Charlie McElligott, a strategist at Nomura, told clients in early March that Trump and his administration needed an engineered recession to trigger a growth slowdown and disflation that would result in Fed rate cuts and a weaker dollar, reported MarketWatch.

"It's definitely not some sort of fringe conspiracy theory," Ben McMillan, CIO at IDX Advisors, told Business Insider earlier in the week. "I think it's a coin flip as to whether or not it's the intention, but there have been some data points that suggest it's a non-trivial possibility in my mind."

Among the "data points" McMillan reportedly had in mind was Trump's suggestion at Davos that he'll demand interest rates fall and the president's unconventional approaches to tackling the debt problem, such as gold card residency permits.

Trump just happened to state in a Truth Social post Friday morning, "This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates."

While Forbes took issue with various falsehoods in the TikTok video, it noted that "to that theory's credit," yields for U.S. Treasury notes collapsed this week — which will likely mean cheaper borrowing. However, Forbes noted that lower Treasury yields can alternatively be achieved without tanking the markets, namely "by restoring fixed income investors' confidence in the federal government’s fiscal health through more austere spending."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Comedian trolls Nancy Pelosi on being 'greatest options trader of all time,' gets physically thrown out of book signing

A conservative comedian was escorted away from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after heckling her over her family's much-talked-about stock market trading record.

Comedian Alex Strenger was physically ushered away from Pelosi after playfully mocking the Democrat leader over her husband's outstanding record of trading stocks. The comedian called Pelosi “the greatest options trader of all time.”

'I just want to know; she makes six figures a year in Congress and has a hundred-million-dollar net worth.'

Strenger disguised himself as a liberal to infiltrate Pelosi's book signing at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday.

The comedian approached Pelosi while wearing a "White Dudes for Kamala" shirt, a Bernie Sanders hat, and a face mask.

Strenger introduced himself to Pelosi, "Hi, my name is Noah. I use he/they pronouns."

"I appreciate your, like, fierce, staunch defending of democracy," he said. "It really means so, so much, you know?"

"And, you know, like, honestly, like, I’m really scared about, you know, Donald Trump winning the election," the comedian continued. "And honestly, with all the disinformation on X, like, you know, I honestly, the only chance, like, that we have is for Donald Trump to spend the rest of his life in prison. That’s the only hope for democracy."

Pelosi replied, "We just have to win the election."

A security guard then intervened to shut down the exchange by putting her hands on Strenger and physically removing him by shoving him.

As he was being pushed away, Strenger asked Pelosi, “Well, Nancy, listen. Well, sure. Last question. What stocks should I buy? Nancy, you’re the greatest options trader of all time. I just want to know what stocks I should buy. What, I just want to know, like, what’s your biggest concern?”

Strenger trolled the liberals in the room by pointing out that there was security at the event and how it went against the progressive defund-the-police movement.

“The police are an instrumental institution of white supremacy and racism," the comedian sarcastically quipped. "I don’t understand why they are even here at all. They should be defunded.”

As he was being escorted out, Strenger shouted: “I just want to know; she makes six figures a year in Congress and has a hundred-million-dollar net worth. Don’t y’all want to know what stocks she should buy? Come on. I just want to know. I just want to know what stocks to buy. I want to close the wealth gap. What’s the problem? I just want to close the wealth gap.”

Pelosi was paid $223,500 annually as speaker of the House and now makes a $174,000 salary as a member of Congress.

Pelosi and her husband have a combined net worth of nearly $245 million based on the price movement of stocks in her portfolio as calculated by alternative stock data platform Quiver Quantitative.

Strenger posted the video on the X social media platform with the caption: "Assaulted by @SpeakerPelosi’s Security Detail when all I wanted was stock advice."

At the time of publication, the video had been viewed over 268,000 times.

Strenger noted that Blaze Media personality Alex Stein — host of "Prime Time with Alex Stein" — has "mentored me, provided me with guidance, shared my posts, invited me on his show, and more."

He added, "Comedy will save the world from tyranny, and we need to mock these globalists into obscurity."

Pelosi has drawn scrutiny over her husband's exceptional track record of trading stocks. Paul Pelosi, a founder of a real estate and venture capitalist firm, has a history of making remunerative investments that critics see as conflicts of interest given Nancy's access to inside information due to her high-ranking position in the government.

In March 2021, Pelosi bought $10 million in shares of Microsoft just 12 days before it was announced that the technology company secured a government contract worth nearly $22 billion to supply U.S. Army combat troops with augmented reality headsets.

As Blaze News reported in July 2022, Paul Pelosi purchased millions of dollars' worth of stock in the Nvidia semiconductor company weeks before a Senate vote on a bill that would provide $52 billion in subsidies to the tech industry.

Pelosi’s stock options gained more than 65% in 2023, according to analysis by Unusual Whales.

Pelosi was questioned about Congress members trading in the stock market when they may know insider information because of their duties. Pelosi snapped back, "We are a free-market economy. They should be able to participate in that."

Drew Hammill, Pelosi's communications director, told Fox Business in 2022, "The speaker does not own any stocks. The speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions."

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act, made it illegal for family members and members of Congress to profit from insider trading. A 2023 report from Business Insider claimed that 78 members of Congress failed to properly report their financial trades as mandated by the STOCK Act.

For a deeper analysis of how Congress members apparently profit from being incredible stock market experts, watch the Blaze Originals documentary titled: "Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Stock market CRASH: What does Warren Buffett know that we don't??

Americans woke up on Monday morning to a stock market plunge after a bad day on Friday. The Dow plummeted hundreds of points, Warren Buffett is selling stocks like crazy, and to top it all off, Japan’s stock market had its worst day since 1987’s Black Monday.

Glenn Beck is understandably worried.

“Friday, we had a bad jobs report. We’re still not in a recession; indicators are showing that we’re headed towards one, but the indicators have been wrong before. We are headed towards one; we’re headed for a depression at some point,” Glenn Beck warns.

Glenn is concerned about what this might mean for ordinary Americans and the United States economy and consults financial expert Carol Roth for some advice.

Roth explains that while the Fed did not lower rates, it might be on the table in September.

“Normally, you would say, ‘Okay, the market wants the Fed to cut rates,’ but what happened is then we got a weak job report on Friday, and while sometimes the bad news can be good news for the market, in this case, they took it as bad news,” Roth tells Glenn.

“The Fed was behind the curve in terms of lowering rates,” Roth continues. “They felt like maybe this whole idea of a quote ‘soft landing,’ the idea that you can get the inflation down without wrecking the economy, is off the table.”

However, while it doesn’t look good, Roth says that “if there is any silver lining here,” it’s that the market did not open back up and continue to fall.

But there are still major indicators that something strange is going on, and one of them is Warren Buffett’s recent behavior.

“Another catalyst that we’ve seen is Warren Buffett,” Roth says. “He had lessened his position in Apple by about 49%.”

“That’s not lessening. That’s cutting it in half,” Glenn says. “He’s making some of the biggest sales he’s ever made. It’s almost as if he’s becoming bullish on America. What does he know that we don’t know?”

“Starting in 2019, he doubled down on Japan. So he has five really big companies and really big positions in Japan. So the day that we’re talking about Japan going down and at the same time the U.S. is going down,” Roth says. “It is interesting.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

'Sabotage': Trump attacks Hawley for pushing bill that would ban congressional and presidential stock trading

'Shark Tank' Legend Destroys Economy Narrative w/ One Fact

S&P 500 hits new record high following months of Trump tariff doom and gloom

Trump raises eyebrows by sharing video claiming he's 'purposely CRASHING the market'

Comedian trolls Nancy Pelosi on being 'greatest options trader of all time,' gets physically thrown out of book signing

Stock market CRASH: What does Warren Buffett know that we don't??

Want more from Glenn Beck?

41 Planned Parenthood Facilities And Counting Set To Close As Trump Defunds Abortion Giant

What Texas Dems are now saying after arrest warrants were issued for fleeing the state

UN associate loses blue check on X after getting hit with US sanctions

Redistricting Isn’t A ‘Threat To Democracy’ But These 4 Dem Vote-Rigging Tactics Are

Want more from Glenn Beck?

We’ll keep you informed with top stories for conservatives who want to become informed decision makers.