President Trump signaled in an interview published today that he would “absolutely” sign legislation to ban congressional stock trading if it reached his desk.
“Well, I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,” Trump told Time Magazine in an interview conducted this week.
Asked if he would sign such a bill, Trump replied, “Absolutely.”
The notion of members of Congress reeping the benefits of stock trades has come under fire recently.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dropped her opposition to legislation banning members of Congress from trading stocks in 2022.
Her husband, Paul Pelosi, is an investor who has made significant money off of stock trades.
Republicans have also come under scrutiny in recent weeks for their stock trading habits, prompting allegations from Democrats that the president has manipulated the market to benefit his allies.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a top Trump ally, purchased tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock the day before the president announced he was pausing sweeping tariffs for 90 days, a move that caused the market to surge.
Greene has previously said she relies on a financial adviser to make trades on her behalf.
A ban on congressional stock trading has garnered bipartisan support over the years, though never enough to pass both chambers of Congress.
The biggest action on the issue came last year when the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee advanced the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, which would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from trading stocks.
It did not pass the full Senate, which has since flipped from Democratic to Republican control.