U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff is calling for an insider-trading investigation related to stock-market volatility driven by Trump's changing stance on reciprocal tariffs

Sen. Adam Schiff is calling for an insider-trading probe (Getty)

Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on most of his tariffs, except for the ones targeting China. In the process, it appears Trump confessed to criminal activity, according to a report at The New Republic (TNR). Also, Trump's actions and statements have caught the attention of a U.S. senator, who is calling for an investigation of possible insider trading. It appears the Oval Office seat under Trump might get warm pretty soon.

Under the headline "Trump’s Tariffs Whiplash Is Open Corruption. He Admitted It Himself; Trump posted a message to his followers just before pausing the bulk of his tariffs.," Malcolm Ferguson provides details:

Trump may have accidentally confessed to insider trading and market manipulation on Truth Social. 

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” the president wrote on Wednesday, a mere four hours before announcing a 90-day pause on most retaliatory tariffs except for China, yet another market-shocking announcement that caused stocks to shoot up.

Insider trading is an illegal practice that involves using special or private information to give yourself an advantage in buying and selling stocks. That someone with knowledge of an economic policy change, which would cause the markets to shoot back up, would be posting about how great a time it is to buy right before the policy change happened . . . well, it is raising concerns about financial misdeeds.

This particular situation looks like the opposite of a pump and dump: a poop and scoop. This is when an exclusive group of people with private knowledge do whatever they can to drive stock prices down—like announcing debilitating global tariffs—and then buy stocks up strategically before the price goes up again. And with this administration, the corruption is completely out in the open. 

“Trump is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs. These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading,” Senator Adam Schiff wrote on X. “Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House—the public has a right to know.”

“Trump’s Truth Social now basically promotes veiled insider trading on upcoming announcements,” wrote health and economics expert Eric Feigl-Ding. “Trump’s benefactors are gleefully watching.”

A reporter for The New York Times stated in a CNBC segment that powerful people in Washington, D.C., might have sold stock last week at a time of market volatility driven by Trump's threats of tariffs. Conditions, it appears, were ripe for such illicit activity, Ferguson reports:

The New York Times’ Aaron Sorkin called it two days ago on CNBC. 

“Given what the government’s been doing, and what this administration’s been doing, it would not shock me—and I hate to speculate—if we were to find out that a whole bunch of people who work in Washington as our elected leaders … ultimately sold stocks last week, or potentially worse than that, shorted the market.” 

The Trump administration—after crashing the global stock market and eroding U.S. legitimacy—is attempting to spin this as a win. 

“Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

How serious is insider trading? An online overview of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 includes the following language:

In cases of insider trading referred to the Department of Justice by the SEC, individuals can face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of up to $5 million, while corporations can face fines of up to $25 million.

As for a possible Congressional investigation, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is leading that charge. From a TIME magazine article under the headline "Adam Schiff Calls For Insider Trading Investigation into Trump Over Tariff Pause," Nick Popli reports:

Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing.

“I’m going to do my best to find out,” Schiff, a California Democrat, tells TIME. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.”

Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after the market opened on Wednesday, along with the letters “DJT,” which stands for both his initials and the ticker for his media company.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schiff is the first Senator to openly call for a congressional investigation into potential insider trading by the Trump Administration in the aftermath of the President’s abrupt reversal on the implementation of new tariffs. Such investigations would typically fall under the purview of powerful congressional panels like the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Senate Finance Committee. Both are chaired by Republicans—Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho—who have largely avoided conflict with the White House. Individual lawmakers like Schiff can investigate matters using personal office staff, though such investigations would lack subpoena power.

Still, the timing of Trump’s announcement—and the market rally that followed—has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. “When my own barber asks me whether Donald Trump is selling short or doing this to try to make money for himself, it shows that a lot of people are pretty suspicious about what’s going on,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, tells TIME.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat, was one of the first to question whether the tariff pause was tied to market manipulation, as the news came out in the middle of a heated hearing with Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, who had vigorously defended the tariffs. Horsford shouted, “This is amateur hour. You just got the rug pulled out from under you.” He demanded to know whether the administration had deliberately moved the markets. “This is not a game. This is real life,” Horsford said.

The market’s response to Trump’s decision was swift and euphoric. Stocks jumped more than 7% within minutes of the announcement, ultimately closing up more than 9%. Bond yields, which had been rising amid fears of an economic downturn, eased. Oil prices, which had also been falling, rebounded. Trump's own words contributed to the sense of suspicion that seems to be growing. Popli writes:

Trump’s explanation, however, only added to the uncertainty. He cited "yippy" people who were “afraid,” and said he had been watching the bond market, which he described as “beautiful” after his announcement. He told reporters that “you have to be flexible,” and acknowledged that “over the last few days it looked pretty glum.”

Schiff says Trump has created a policy environment that is driven by uncertainty. While some might benefit from that, perhaps in unlawful ways, others have been harmed, such as seniors who have seen their retirement accounts take a hit. From the TIME report:

Schiff sees a pattern in Trump’s economic policymaking. “I think what American businesspeople need is some certainty, some predictability,” he said. “They're getting anything but. Americans who have seen their retirement savings wiped out need to be made whole.”

The California Senator has long been one of Trump’s fiercest critics. He served as the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, and as a central figure in the congressional response to the Justice Department’s Russia investigation. While he did not initiate the 2017 congressional probe into Trump’s ties to Russia, Schiff became the most vocal Democrat on the committee, warning of Trump’s deference to autocratic leaders. Schiff was later censured by a Republican-led House for his comments during the investigation.

After Democrats won the House in 2018, Schiff helped lead the charge to impeach Trump over a pressure campaign involving Ukraine. Trump had threatened to withhold military aid to Kyiv unless its president announced an investigation into Joe Biden. The House impeached Trump for abuse of power, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him.