LIST: THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT

“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,” the senators wrote in their letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Friday.

Trump’s call to buy ended with the letters “DJT,” which are the president’s initials and also the stock ticker symbol for Trump Media and Technology Group Corp., the operator of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social. Those who heeded Trump’s call were poised to bring in a windfall.

Hours after Trump encouraged the public to invest in the stock market, he announced the tariff pause, which caused a surge, with the S&P 500 rising 9.5%, the Dow Jones rising 7.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite rising 12.2%.

The stock market previously faced severe losses after Trump slapped a 10% baseline tariff on most U.S. trading partners and a wave of additional tariffs on nearly 90 countries. The financial crisis led Trump to back away from the levies.

However, a 145% retaliatory tariff against China remains.

“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,” the senators alleged.

Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) were the other Democrats who signed onto the SEC letter.

The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News in a 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.”

“Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action yesterday to finally corner China,” Desai also said.

The Democratic senators, however, claimed, “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.”

The SEC declined to comment on the matter after the Washington Examiner contacted the agency. It is unclear whether the SEC will launch an investigation.

Multiple Democrats have previously called on Congress to investigate Trump’s actions surrounding the tariff pause.

TRUMP’S ‘NO TAXES ON OVERTIME’ PROPOSAL: WHAT TO KNOW

Schiff and Gallego sent a letter requesting an investigation to Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative.

“I am fully cognizant of the fact that the White House is probably the last place to be forthcoming about this or any other corruption in the administration,” Schiff said. “We in Congress need to do more than demand answers. We need to do the oversight necessary to get those answers.”