'Unconscionable': MTG bought 'unusually large volume of stock' just before market rally

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) admitted on Monday that she purchased between $21,000 and $315,000 in stocks on April 8 and 9, in line with the day President Trump sent stocks soaring by pausing his sweeping tariffs. Numbers show she also dumped between $50,000 and $100,0000 in Treasury bills on the day the bond market selloff badly rattled investors.

The NY Times reports Trump wrote, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” on social media the morning of April 9. Roughly four hours later, the president made his own statement true by voluntarily pausing the worst of his tariffs dogging the US and world market for nearly two weeks, and the publication noted that Greene bought what it characterized as an "unusually large volume of stock" in companies impacted by tariffs.

Trump’s announcement triggered massive one-day gains in stocks after a significant slump, prompting Democrats in Congress to demand an investigation of deliberate marking tampering and manipulation.

ALSO READ: 'Decimated for 60 years': GOP senator warns tariff backlash has dearly cost Republicans

The day of Trump’s announcement, Greene bought stock in several companies, including Apple, which increased in value about 5% after Trump’s pivotal market announcement. The New York Times reports she also bought other technology stocks, as well as stock in Devon Energy Corporation and pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company.

Greene also notably purchased stock in Palantir and Advanced Micro Devices as prices slumped before Trump’s announcement. After Trump paused tariffs from taking effecrt for 90 days, Palantir stock value rose 19 percent, while the price for Advanced Micro Devices' stock rose by 21 percent. Greene, who is chairwoman of the DOGE subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, did not respond to the Times' requests for comment, but she is not the only member of congress to make a killing during Trump’s chaotic 48-hour back-and-forth on tariffs.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Penn.) sold up to $50,000 in Alibaba stock on March 4, the same day Trump doubled the tariff on Chinese imports to 20. Alibaba is similar to Amazon but with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Company stock price rose by about 30 percent between Bresnahan’s purchase and his final sale, despite Bresnahan claiming in his campaign to ban congressional stock trading.

"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,” a coalition of congressional Democrats wrote in a letter to to Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins.

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