Elizabeth Warren and other senators call for an SEC investigation into Trump’s ‘great time to buy’ post
Senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chuck Schumer of New York signed a letter on Friday asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate President Trump. The move comes after the president’s April 9 Truth Social post in which he told followers it was a “GREAT TIME TO BUY”—just hours before announcing a 90-day pause on the sweeping international tariffs that he’d enacted just days earlier.
The letter urges the SEC to determine if any administration officials or insiders engaged in “insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations.” It also comes following a video filmed in the Oval Office of Trump explaining how much several of his guests made in the market on Wednesday.
“He made $2.5 billion today and he made $900 million. That’s not bad,” Trump said in the video, posted by More Perfect Union on X, pointing out his friend and investor Charles Schwab as one of the beneficiaries of the intense gains the stock market made on Wednesday.
U.S. stocks rose at record-breaking speeds on Wednesday as Trump paused some of his tariffs. The S&P 500 surged 9.5% in response to his announcement, marking the third-best day for the index since 1940.
Questions around SEC’s ability to pursue enforcement
The senators’ letter, addressed to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, also poses a series of questions, including about cutbacks in staff and enforcement activity at the SEC. The questions ask explicitly about the SEC’s ability to “monitor and respond to large-scale market events” and “investigate and pursue enforcement actions.”
Warren posted a tweet Friday morning concerning the investigation request.
“Did President Trump tip off big donors or family to cash in on his tariff chaos?” she wrote. “Today with @SenSchumer and Senate Democrats, I officially called for an SEC investigation to find out. Presidents are not kings.”
Jordan Belfort, a former Wall Street stockbroker and convicted financial criminal known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” told Sky News that there’s “no way” Trump is guilty of illegal insider trading.
“I personally don’t find it overly suspicious. Especially since he’s told it to everybody at once,” Belfort said in a segment of The World.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to Fast Company’s inquiry with the following statement:
“It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” Desai said. “Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action [Wednesday] to finally corner China.”
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment.
On Thursday, Senators Adam Schiff of California and Ruben Gallego of Arizona also sent a letter, this one to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles and U.S. Office of Government Ethics Acting Director Jamieson Greer, requesting an “urgent inquiry into whether President Trump, his family, or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions.”
A list of questions requesting information about alleged ethical violations by White House administration or members of Trump’s family follows, with a deadline of April 18.