Citing Shady Stock Trades, Warren Asks Bessent If SEC Should 'Be Knocking on President Trump's Door'
"Instead of draining the swamp, what Donald Trump is doing is he is enriching himself by taking advantage of his position," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "That is not public service."
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the suspiciously timed trading activity of President Donald Trump, pointing specifically to a large purchase of Nvidia stock just days before his administration approved a sale of the tech giant's chips to China.
During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Warren (D-Mass.) asked Bessent—who has criticized lawmakers for trading stocks—whether he would be willing to hold his boss to the same standard. Last year, Bessent said that if any private citizen traded like members of Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "would be knocking on their door."
"Should the SEC be knocking on President Trump's door?" Warren asked Bessent, who responded that the Massachusetts Democrat and her congressional colleagues should "lead by example."
"I would like to see the president of the United States lead by example," replied Warren, who supports a ban on congressional stock trading and does not own or trade stocks in individual companies. "Instead of draining the swamp, what Donald Trump is doing is he is enriching himself by taking advantage of his position. That is not public service. He's the one who should lead by example."
Watch the exchange:
Financial disclosures released last month show Trump made more than 3,600 trades during the first three months of 2026, purchasing shares in some companies that his administration is tasked with regulating.
"Many of these trades coincided with favorable regulatory decisions," NOTUS reported. "Trump purchased $1 million to $5 million worth of Nvidia stock on February 10, only a week before Nvidia announced a major computer processing power deal with AI and social media giant Meta. Trump previously purchased $500,000 to $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on January 6, a week before the Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China."
In a video response response to the disclosures, Warren asked: "Was this insider trading? And what else is Trump doing to boost his own stock?"
"The American people deserve to know," said Warren. "What Trump is doing should be illegal. It's long past time that we ban the president and every single lawmaker in this country from trading in stocks. We need to end this corruption now."
