President gives “conceptual” nod to bipartisan bill, reigniting debate over financial ethics in Washington.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday his openness to banning government officials from trading individual stocks. The President’s comments came as Republican Senator Josh Hawley’s “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act” advanced in the Senate, gaining bipartisan support.
Trump expressed “conceptual” approval for the legislation, immediately linking his support to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s highly scrutinized stock trading activities.
“I like it conceptually,” Trump told reporters. “And you know, Nancy Pelosi became rich by having inside information. She made a fortune with her husband, and I think that’s disgraceful.” He further urged an investigation into Pelosi, claiming she has “the highest return of anybody, practically, in the history of Wall Street.”
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Pelosi and her husband, Paul, have faced intense scrutiny over their successful stock portfolio, which reportedly outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 200% in 2024 and saw a 70% growth between late 2023 and late 2024.
Moments after Trump’s call for an investigation, Pelosi released a statement supporting Hawley’s bill, playfully acknowledging the “creativity of my Republican colleagues in drafting legislative acronyms.”
She affirmed her strong support for the “HONEST Act, as amended,” which now extends the stock trading ban to include the President and Vice President. Pelosi has consistently denied any involvement in insider trading.
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Senator Hawley, who first introduced the legislation in January 2023, emphasized his own practice of not trading individual stocks.
“I practice what I preach,” he said. “I don’t have individual stocks, I don’t trade in stocks. I’m not a billionaire, unlike others on this committee. And what I think is, the American people are sending us a clear message.”
The PELOSI Act advanced to the Senate floor with an 8-7 vote from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, signaling a growing bipartisan appetite for stricter financial ethics in Congress and the executive branch.
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