Members of Congress Investing In Defense Revealed

Newsweek

10-07-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
At least four members of Congress have recently invested in defense companies, a Newsweek analysis has found.
According to a review of financial disclosures—in collaboration with data platform Quiver Quantitative—Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, California House Democrat Gilbert Cisneros, Texas House Democrat Julie Johnson and Arkansas Republican Senator John Boozman have all purchased shares in defense companies since May.
While they are not the only politicians to hold shares in defense companies, they are politicians who have purchased stock in defense companies since May. This time frame was chosen to gather the most recent available data, bearing in mind the 45-day lead-in time mandated for members of Congress to report their trades publicly.
The stock purchases came at a time in which President Donald Trump mulled increasing U.S. defense spending. Some of the trades interacted with the members of the Congress's legislative committee. All of the companies the politicians traded with have received government contracts. Since purchasing the stocks, the share value of the companies has increased.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/AP/Canva
Representatives for Mullin, Cisneros and Boozman said their finances were managed by independent third-party advisors and that they do not choose their shares. Johnson's representatives did not reply to Newsweek's request for comment. But ethics watchdogs warned the trades created conflict of interest concerns.
Greg Williams, director of the Center for Defense Information at nonpartisan government watchdog the Project on Government Oversight, told Newsweek: "A blind trust is one in which the beneficiary cannot know what stocks and other assets it contains. If you know these trusts contain military stocks, then these Senators can know as well. If they know they contain these stocks, they can be influenced—knowingly or unknowingly—by that fact.
"Whether or not they are involved in the management of these trusts, they are involved in legislation and oversight that may affect the value of these stocks. That is a conflict of interest."
A spokesperson for Mullin, whose stock trades have previously drawn scrutiny, told Newsweek: "Senator Mullin uses an independent, third-party operator firm that manages all stock portfolio investments on his behalf. He does not conduct nor inform trades. This independent firm reports bi-weekly with Senate Ethics to ensure compliance with federal law."
A spokesperson for Cisneros told Newsweek: "The Congressman and his wife have always employed outside financial advisors who have a fiduciary responsibility to maintain a diverse portfolio. The Congressman and his wife do not manage the day-to-day trading of their investments."
A Boozman spokesperson told Newsweek: "The senator holds stocks through an IRA – a retirement account – which is managed independently by a financial advisor. He does not personally trade stocks and files all required disclosures, which are public records, and has supported greater transparency into Members' of Congress financial activities."
Congressional stock trading is permitted, but the practice has attracted bipartisan criticism because of concerns it may facilitate insider trading if lawmakers are privy to information about assets that could move markets. There are also concerns politicians with stock holdings can influence the assets they hold to inflate their share value. Some members of Congress are now campaigning to impose a ban on all members and their immediate families from trading individual stocks.
There are restrictions on Congressional stock trading. The 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act) prohibits members of Congress and other government employees from using non-public information for private profit. It also requires the reporting of certain transactions to the secretary of the Senate or the clerk of the House of Representatives within 45 days.
According to a periodic transaction report filed in June, Johnson, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in General Dynamics Corporation Common Stock on May 2, 2025. Political stock filings come in ranges, not exact amounts.
A similar June report showed that Cisneros, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, which funds the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Army, bought between $1,001 and $15,000 of shares within the same value in L3Harris and Northrop Grumman on May 30.
Meanwhile, Boozman purchased between $1,001 - $15,000 of shares in Raytheon Technologies on May 30. Boozman sits on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, serving as chairman of the Senate Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and related agencies subcommittee which is in part responsible for funding construction activities in the DoD, like military housing.
Mullin, who sits on the Senate Committee in Armed Services, which has legislative oversight of the military, purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 of shares in L3Harris on May 13.
Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, the CEO of RepresentUS, a nonpartisan anti-corruption group, told Newsweek the trades create "an obvious risk of corruption." "Stock trading by members of Congress and other senior officials who are making decisions that could affect the value of those stocks creates an obvious risk of corruption and is devastating to public trust," she said. "Americans deserve a system in which they can be confident that their leaders are making decisions based on the national interest, not their bottom lines. A ban on congressional stock trading has bipartisan public support--we just need Congress to act on it."
In May, when these trades were made, the White House unveiled a budget blueprint in May which proposed increasing defense spending by 13 percent to $1 trillion. The budget ultimately increased, but by 4.2 percent and Trump bridged some of this gap by injecting funds into other parts of the budget. The "One Big Beautiful Bill," for instance, passed in early July, adding, among other spending agreements. $120 billion in military-related funds.
Meanwhile, L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Raytheon, all global aerospace technology companies, have all long received government contracts from the U.S. Air Force, the DoD and other entities. L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon have all received multiple DoD contracts since May, while General Dynamics saw continued labor agreements.
"One of the clearest examples of the problem with congressional stock trading is when lawmakers own stock in government contractors directly tied to the work of the committees they serve on," said Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director, ethics of nonpartisan democracy group Campaign Legal Center. "It is nearly impossible for such lawmakers to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest — which can greatly diminish public trust," he told Newsweek.
"Voters have a right to know that lawmakers are prioritizing the national interest over their own financial interest," he continued. "Until there is a ban on congressional stock trading, the public will continue to see suspicious activity and question what lawmakers knew and when."
Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel at ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Newsweek: "You don't need to be an ethics expert to understand why it's problematic for legislators to have a personal financial stake in industries directly affected by their legislative and oversight work. Congressional stock trading is a bipartisan problem that impacts every industry and state in our country; unsurprisingly, banning these conflicts of interest has bipartisan support from a wide majority of Americans. People who are struggling to pay for groceries and healthcare, or worried about the fate of our democracy, should not also have to question whether elected representatives in Congress are putting their stock portfolio ahead of their constituents' interests!
He added: "Having a third party manager is merely window dressing that does not resolve the conflict of interest, particularly if a Senator is aware of their personal financial stake in a company or industry that falls within their legislative or oversight jurisdiction. The public should not have to wonder whether official acts made by their elected representative might be influenced by financial conflicts."
However, some politicians are against greater regulating congressional stock trading. Speaking to The Free Press in November 2024, Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw said he was against a ban on congressional members trading on the stock market.