“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.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Finance Committee Ranking Member Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), in a letter to the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, to determine whether President Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, and Administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations.
“We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement,” called the Senators.
The Senators wrote, “Before pausing the tariffs that threw markets into disarray, President Trump appears to have previewed his plans to do so on Truth Social: at 9:37 am, he announced, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” His official announcement of the tariff pause came roughly 4 hours later at 1:18 pm.”
The Senators also asked how Trump Administration cuts to the SEC might impact the agency’s ability to respond to large-scale market events and pursue enforcement actions. They requested answers to their questions by April 25, 2025.
On Thursday, Senators Schiff and Gallego sent a letter demanding the White House and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) provide information about potential violations of federal ethics and insider trading laws prior to President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding changes in tariff policy.
The full letter text can be found here or below:
Dear Chairman Atkins:
We write today to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate potential violations of federal securities laws by President Trump and his affiliates. Specifically, we ask the SEC to determine whether President Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donor, insiders, and Administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations on April 9, 2025, when President Trump announced that it was a “GREAT TIME TO BUY” into the stock market. President Trump’s statement came just hours before he announced a 90-day pause on his recently-announced tariffs, leading to a historic market rally after days of dramatic market declines.
In recent days, President Trump has announced a series of erratic, reckless tariffs, leading to significant market turmoil. As a direct result of this chaos, the U.S. financial markets have experienced dramatic declines over the course of just a few days. Specifically, the U.S. stock market lost trillions of dollars of value in a few short days, with the S&P 500 losing $5.06 trillion in market value, or 10%, in two days, and the Dow Jones experiencing its biggest back-to-back losses since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 9, 2025, however, the market saw a historic rally after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on most tariffs. The stock market saw “one of [its] best days in history,” with the S&P 500 surging 9.5% (one of its strongest performances in over 80 years), Dow Jones rising 7.9%, and the Nasdaq composite rising 12.2%.
To ensure that market insiders do not unfairly benefit from privileged information that could impact stock prices, our nation has strict laws to prevent insider trading and market manipulation. Yet before pausing the tariffs that threw markets into disarray, President Trump appears to have previewed his plans to do so on Truth Social: at 9:37 am, he announced, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” His official announcement of the tariff pause came roughly 4 hours later at 1:18 pm. It is unclear which officials and affiliates of President Trump had advance knowledge of his plans to delay tariffs–but insiders may have known that he was going to announce a tariff pause and that the market would improve.
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. 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.
We call on the SEC to investigate whether any actions taken by the President, his donors, and other insiders, constitute market manipulation, insider trading, or other violations of securities laws. We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement. In addition, we request responses to the following questions by Friday, April 25:
- What steps have you taken, or are you planning to take, to investigate actions by President Trump, donors, and other potential insiders that may constitute market manipulation, insider trading, or other violations of federal securities laws in connection with President Trump’s tariff actions and announcements?
- Have you received any communications from President Trump, White House officials, or President Trump’s affiliates regarding the investigation described in (1), or other market activity related to the tariff actions and announcements?
- In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has prioritized staff reductions, cancelled contracts, and reduced enforcement activity at the SEC.
- What impact do recent staff departures, particularly within the Division of Trading and Markets, have on your ability to monitor and respond to large-scale market events, such as the crash following President Trump’s tariff actions?
- What impact do recent staff departures have on your ability to investigate and pursue enforcement actions, including for violations of securities laws during the market volatility caused by President Trump’s tariff actions
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