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Well-timed or just lucky? Top Trump officials' stock sales clustered before tariff news
Well-timed or just lucky? Top Trump officials' stock sales clustered before tariff news

USA Today

time6 hours ago

  • Business
  • USA Today

Well-timed or just lucky? Top Trump officials' stock sales clustered before tariff news

Several top Trump administration officials sold off stock market holdings in the days leading up to the president's announcements of sweeping tariffs that sparked fears of a global trade war and rattled financial markets. Sales by top officials, including Cabinet members, their deputies and senior White House officials were clustered in two 10-day periods leading up to President Donald Trump's major tariff announcements Feb. 13 and April 2, according to a USA TODAY analysis of 20 officials' publicly available transaction forms. Of the stock and stock fund sales administration officials reported between Jan. 20 and April 30, 90% fell within 10 days of the tariff announcements. The Feb. 13 announcement had little immediate impact on the markets, but stock prices plummeted after April 2. The markets have recovered since April 9 when Trump paused the tariffs, and the S&P 500 index was up about 7.5% for the year as of July 21. 'It is concerning and begs the question of whether these public officials knew something that informed their trading,' said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. 'We don't know whether they used any private knowledge to benefit. That would require at least some Justice Department inquiry.' Trades complied with ethics rules and did not rely on nonpublic information, according to spokespeople for several of those in the analysis. Others did not respond to USA TODAY's requests for comment. 'Insinuating this was anything other than an ethically fully compliant transaction required for government service is dishonest and demonstrates a lack of understanding of both how markets and our ethics laws work," said Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior, defending trades reported by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Burgum and several other officials faced deadlines to divest their holdings to serve in the Trump administration, and USA TODAY found no evidence any of these trades were made based on nonpublic information. Such a connection is hard to prove, ethics experts say, but they recommend officials avoid even the appearance of impropriety. On Feb. 13, Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on countries worldwide. Then on April 2, which Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he unveiled specific tariff figures on countries across the globe, triggering a broader market sell-off and raising fears of a recession. The early February spike in sales was in part driven by divestments by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Burgum. The late March flurry included sales by Troy Edgar, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and Keith Sonderling, deputy secretary at the Department of Labor. USA TODAY reported that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino sold up to $5 million in Trump Media stock the day before the Liberation Day announcement, and Attorney General Pam Bondi sold a similar stake on the day of the announcement, which came after markets closed. A handful of sales before Trump's tariff announcements also came from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, as well as White House Counsel David Warrington and Sergio Gor, director of the Office of Presidential Personnel. 'Hard to prove' Spokespeople for Duffy, Burgum, Edgar, Kennedy, Bondi, Warrington and Sonderling responded to questions by saying the divestments had nothing to do with the tariff announcements. Hegseth did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. After ProPublica first reported on Bondi's April 2 sale, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, sent a letter to the Justice Department inspector general urging an investigation into whether Bondi or other DOJ officials 'engaged in illegal insider trading.' 'This stock sale had been in the works since Attorney General Bondi's nomination process in constant consultation with the Department of Justice's Ethics Department" and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, DOJ spokesman Gates McGavick said in a written statement to USA TODAY. 'Any implication that it was somehow tied to tariffs is an outright lie.' Duffy's stock transactions were made through an independently managed retirement account, according to an unsigned statement from the Transportation Department press office, and he 'had no input on the timing of the sales.' Edgar's sales had nothing to do with Liberation Day, said Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokeswoman. By reporting on 33 stock sales by Deputy Secretary Sonderling just days before the April 2 announcement, USA TODAY is 'creating a fictitious narrative to generate clickbait,' said Courtney Parella, a Labor Department spokesperson. Not all of the disclosure forms USA TODAY reviewed showed stock or stock fund sales before Trump's tariff announcements. Transactions by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Deputy Counsel to the President Gineen Bresso fell outside those time periods. Education Secretary Linda McMahon offloaded bonds worth millions, but not stocks. 'Good questions to ask' The USA TODAY analysis focused on 250 sales of stocks, stock funds and cryptocurrencies disclosed in publicly available transaction forms filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. It doesn't include all Cabinet members or White House officials, but only those whose disclosures were published on the ethics office website as of July 15. The findings show an increase in divestment activity in the 10 days ahead of the February news event, followed by a sharper spike in a similar period before Liberation Day. Together, these sales accounted for about 90% of transactions reported between Inauguration Day and April 30. Specifically, about 60% of the disclosed sales came in the 10-day window ending April 2, with a dollar value ranging from $2.7 million to $13 million. The sales outside these periods represented between $1.9 million and $7 million. Government ethics watchdogs say the findings are 'striking' as well as 'concerning.' 'It is hard to prove an insider trading case because it is not like there is a video showing impropriety,' said Hedtler-Gaudette. 'You have to be extremely sloppy and stupid to get caught.' Trump's trade agenda was a consistent theme throughout his campaign, and he promised to impose tariffs in his inaugural address for the second term. The Feb. 13 announcement had little immediate impact on the markets. But after April 2, when the president unveiled specific tariff figures, the stock market lost almost $10 trillion in value, with the S&P 500 plummeting 12% through April 9, when Trump hit a pause on tariffs. 'Looks like there was a lot of activity between March 15 and April 2. That is very concerning,' said Virginia Canter, chief counsel for oversight and anti-corruption at State Democracy Defenders Action, a nonprofit group that says it opposes autocracy. 'It could be a coincidence, too.' Officials cashing out just before the Liberation Day announcement should raise some eyebrows, she said. 'Why didn't they divest sooner? Were they in possession of nonpublic information? These are all good questions to ask. They are fair questions to ask,' said Canter, a White House associate counsel to presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. How does the ethics office work? Government officials and members of Congress are required to publicly disclose their stock trades under the 2012 STOCK Act, which is designed to prevent officials from profiting from nonpublic information they learn by virtue of their positions. They are not prohibited from trading based on public information. An Office of Government Ethics spokesman, Patrick Shepherd, declined to comment on whether the agency reviews the timing of transactions. Officials who go through Senate confirmation sign an ethics agreement with the office. The agreement, which takes effect upon confirmation, also may require the official to divest from holdings if the companies in question are likely to have business before the agency. Upon confirmation, officials have 90 days to divest and come into compliance. A few chose to sell on the final day of the 90-day window or within the first week of taking office, while a significant number completed their divestments around major news events originating from the White House. For example, Gabbard and Bondi were required to divest stocks under their ethics agreements. Gabbard sold holdings in Apple, Tesla and cryptocurrencies on the final day of her divestment window, and Bondi sold her Trump Media stake on Liberation Day, just before the public tariff announcement. Unlike Senate-confirmed officials, White House officials are not required to sign agreements with the ethics office, but they are still obligated to report any financial transactions during their time in office. White House ethics officials typically work to ensure that staff avoid conflicts of interest, but the extent of that consultation − and any divestiture requirements − is less transparent than for Senate-confirmed officials, who sign publicly available ethics agreements outlining their divestment obligations. Of the 20 officials included in USA TODAY's analysis, six who serve in White House roles were not subject to the same ethics office requirements. The remaining were Senate-confirmed jobs and signed ethics agreements requiring them to divest certain holdings within 90 days of confirmation. Once officials have entered into an ethics agreement, Canter said, 'they will argue they were following their obligations to divest.' But, she said, the difficult question of whether these trades were strategically placed or merely lucky timing still needs to be addressed. To that end, Canter said, ethics officials should interview these officials. Still, it may require an investigation by the Justice Department or the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach a conclusion, she said. 'You look at the facts and circumstances,' she said. "You might ask: Why did they sell before the president announced tariffs? Maybe they were caught unaware or didn't know what was coming. They'd need to be interviewed and, if necessary, conduct an investigation.' White House Counsel David Warrington sold three stocks on March 25: NVIDIA, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. 'The timing of white House counsel trades is concerning by virtue of them being in the White House,' Canter said. Warrington did nothing wrong, said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman. 'White House senior staff, including Dave Warrington, fully comply with the executive branch ethics rules,' Rogers said, 'attending required ethics briefings and complying with conflict of interest and financial reporting obligations.' Separately, the nonprofit news agency ProPublica in May identified more than a dozen White House officials and congressional aides who appeared to have timed their stock trades before widespread stock market sell-offs triggered by White House announcements. 'Strong, clear rules' needed Though members of Congress have occasionally faced public scrutiny over well-timed stock trades, similar activity by executive branch officials has received far less attention. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several lawmakers sold off millions of dollars in stocks just before the market crashed. These moves triggered a Justice Department inquiry at the time as the lawmakers had been briefed on the severity of the virus, information that was not yet fully public, and were accused of offloading stocks even as they publicly downplayed the threat. Online bots now monitor the portfolios of high-profile lawmakers. The "Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker" closely follows the California Democrat's trades. Questions have been raised about the timing of her transactions and the impressive returns of her portfolio, especially when it outpaces the broader market. 'Strong, clear rules that apply to everyone is the only way to avoid this kind of thing,' said Hedtler-Gaudette of the Project on Government Oversight. It is not the sales that captured lawmakers' attention but the purchases made April 9, when Trump paused tariffs. Just before the pause that sent markets soaring, unknown traders placed multimillion-dollar bets on a rebound, Reuters reported. Some Democratic lawmakers called for an investigation into possible market manipulation or insider trading, though experts told Reuters there's no way to determine whether the moves were strategic or coincidental.

‘Definitely playing favorites:' Interior memo could strike dire blow to wind and solar projects
‘Definitely playing favorites:' Interior memo could strike dire blow to wind and solar projects

Politico

time4 days ago

  • Business
  • Politico

‘Definitely playing favorites:' Interior memo could strike dire blow to wind and solar projects

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, warned the move would hamstring the U.S. economy by delaying additions of readily available power. 'The president and Secretary Burgum will then be responsible for raising electricity prices on every state in this country because that will be the end result of that kind of abuse of permitting,' he said. 'I would warn them if they create this as a precedent and it survives, a future administration could play the same game with oil and gas pipelines and leases.' The department's new policy requires Burgum's office to weigh in on virtually every aspect of or permit for solar and wind projects with a nexus to Interior. That includes siting, navigating threats to endangered species, road access and right-of-way permissions. 'There are some projects — particularly in the West because that's mostly where you're going to see this Interior footprint — that are going to be directly impacted by this, significantly impacted by this,' said Walter McLeod, managing director of Monarch Strategic Ventures, which finances solar and battery storage projects. Those steps would ensnare a massive amount of projects, said Ted Boling, a partner at law firm Perkins Coie who spent decades working on permitting at Interior and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Projects that begin on private land but must cross public land — such as transmission lines that connect solar and wind to other power lines carrying electricity to populated areas — require authorization from Interior's Bureau of Land Management, he said. Transmission projects, which can span hundreds of miles, that cross national wildlife refuges on Interior-managed land may also need Burgum's approval, Boling added. Some companies and clean energy advocates worried the directive would slow solar and wind approvals to a crawl by creating a bottleneck at Burgum's office. The memo outlining the new marching orders referenced several executive orders that were designed to either elevate fossil fuel production or stymie renewable power.

Trump officials tour Alcatraz in bid to reopen prison amid outcry from California leaders
Trump officials tour Alcatraz in bid to reopen prison amid outcry from California leaders

Yahoo

time4 days ago

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Trump officials tour Alcatraz in bid to reopen prison amid outcry from California leaders

A delegation of US officials toured Alcatraz on Thursday as part of Donald Trump's pledge to reopen the shuttered federal prison and tourist attraction in the San Francisco Bay, amid an outcry from California leaders who have called the plan 'lunacy'. Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, who visited the island prison with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said the federal government was beginning 'the work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals'. The president's proposal to reopen Alcatraz, which closed in 1963 due to steep operating costs and is now a National Park Service museum with 1.4 million visitors a year, has attracted fierce criticism from local leaders, California Democrats and the state governor. Related: Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz' reveals the ongoing cruelty towards migrants in US 'With stiff competition, the planned announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump administration's stupidest initiative yet,' said Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker and San Francisco congresswoman, ahead of the delegation's visit. She described it as a 'diversionary tactic' from the recently passed budget and 'lunacy'. 'It remains to be seen how this administration could possibly afford to spend billions to convert and maintain Alcatraz as a prison when they are already adding trillions of dollars to the national debt with their sinful law.' In May, Trump said his administration would reopen and expand Alcatraz to 'house America's most ruthless and violent offenders'. This week, as the administration continued to deal with the outcry over the decision not to release additional files related to Jeffrey Epstein, Bondi and Burgum traveled to the site. 'Alcatraz is the brand known around the world for being effective at housing people that are in incarceration, so this is something we're here to take a look at,' Burgum told Fox News on Thursday. 'It's a federal property – its original use was a prison. So part of this would be to test the feasibility of returning it back to its original use.' But reopening the prison would be an enormous logistical and financial undertaking. The facility, known for its brutal conditions and escape attempts, closed because its operating costs were three times more than any other federal prison due to its physical isolation – and million of dollars were needed for restoration. While in operation, nearly 1m gallons of water were transported to the island each week, according to the Bureau of Prisons. The site later became a symbol of Indigenous resistance when Indigenous American activists began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz in 1969, and opened to the public for tours in 1973. Officials have said it is in no condition to serve as a detention center. 'There is no realistic plan for Alcatraz to host anyone other than visitors,' Daniel Lurie, San Francisco's mayor, said on Thursday. 'If the federal government has billions of dollars to spend in San Francisco, we could use that funding to keep our streets safe and clean and help our economy recover.' In response to news of tour, Gavin Newsom's press office said: 'Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files. So … never.'

Trump administration taking new steps to block wind and solar projects, undisclosed memo says
Trump administration taking new steps to block wind and solar projects, undisclosed memo says

Politico

time6 days ago

  • Politics
  • Politico

Trump administration taking new steps to block wind and solar projects, undisclosed memo says

Gregory Wischer, Interior's deputy chief of staff for policy, wrote in the memo that 'all decisions, actions, consultations, and other undertakings — including but not limited to the following — related to wind and solar energy facilities' require Burgum's review. The actions triggering Burgum's attention span cradle to grave aspects of project development, ranging from scoping reports to access road authorizations to cost recovery agreements. Wischer said in the memo the steps are necessary to align with various Trump administration executive orders, including the president's Inauguration Day declaration of a national energy emergency that called on steering federal resources to produce more energy — but did not define wind and solar as energy sources. 'Let's be clear: leaking internal documents to the media is cowardly, dishonest, and a blatant violation of professional standards,' Interior said in a response to a request for comment on the memo. 'It shows a complete lack of respect for the people working hard to serve the American public.' Eric Beightel, former executive director of the Federal Permitting Council under President Joe Biden, said the directive would definitely slow down approvals for these renewable energy projects. 'It absolutely will create so much bureaucratic process that no solar or wind projects are likely to move in a timely and efficient manner, if at all,' he said. 'For an administration so focused on eliminating unnecessary roadblocks, this is a clear attempt to use 'the process' to kill projects.' The Interior memo said its actions were also intended to align agency policy with Trump's executive order earlier this month to 'strictly enforce' the wind and solar tax credit phaseouts in the megalaw, including by potentially rewriting long-standing rules that define when a project is considered to have started construction.

Trump order calls for national park fee hikes for some: What to know
Trump order calls for national park fee hikes for some: What to know

The Hill

time06-07-2025

  • Business
  • The Hill

Trump order calls for national park fee hikes for some: What to know

(NEXSTAR) — Just weeks after the Department of the Interior's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 suggested a surcharge for some national park visitors, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for just that. The order, signed Thursday, directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to develop a 'strategy' to boost revenue and improve recreational experiences at national parks, The Hill reported last week. As part of that, entrance fees and the cost for a recreation pass are intended to rise for 'nonresidents.' International visitors do not currently pay more to visit the national parks than U.S. residents. The White House said the price hikes will make national parks more affordable for American families. Here's what we know about Trump's order and the Interior Department's budget proposal. The Department of the Interior's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 said a surcharge will help bring in more than $90 million, but didn't outline how. 'There could be a billion-dollar revenue opportunity without discouraging visitors,' Burgum said during a House Committee on Natural Resources oversight hearing in June. He didn't expand on how the extra fee could bring in more than $90 million, and the Department did not respond to Nexstar's request for additional information last month. An analysis by SFGate, using an estimate that 14.6 million international visitors went to U.S. national parks last year, determined that if the parks saw the same number of visitors in 2026, the necessary surcharge to reach the aforementioned budget goal would be about $6 a person. 'I think we're way undercharging, as a nation, for international visitors,' Burgum said during June's oversight hearing. Burgum pointed to other international venues where Americans and other non-resident tourists are charged more than locals, like the Galapagos Islands. There, non-Ecuadorian adults must pay a $200 entrance fee, in cash, to the Galapagos National Park. The entrance fee for children is $100. Meanwhile, Ecuadorian citizens over the age of 12 pay $30 while the fee for younger citizens is $12. Citizens also have discounted or free admission to popular tourist attractions around the world. College-aged residents of the European Union have free access to several museums within member countries, including the Louvre and The Orsay Museum in Paris. Tourists pay over 20 times more to visit the Taj Mahal than local residents do. Hawaii will begin charging a 'Green Fee' tourist tax next year in order to generate funds for mitigating future environmental challenges the state expects to face. Chicago's Field Museum offers discounted admission to city residents. Residents of the state of New York are able to pay whatever they prefer to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art, though they are required to pay at least one penny per ticket. Even Disney World and Disneyland offer deals for those who live near their parks. Regarding international visitors at national parks, Trump's order calls for increased fees for foreign visitors, as well as a price hike for the America the Beautiful Pass and 'any site-specific agency or regional multi-entity passes' that are sold to foreign visitors. The America the Beautiful Pass is currently available at various price points and provides free entrance into national parks and federal recreational lands. An annual pass, available to 'everyone,' is $80. A senior annual pass is $20, while a senior lifetime pass is $80. Others may qualify for a free annual or lifetime pass. The price hikes, according to Trump's order, apply only to those parks that charge entrance or recreation pass fees. Currently, only 106 of the 475 sites that are managed by the National Park Service charge an entrance fee. Neither Trump's executive order nor the Interior Department's budget outlined how much entrance and pass fees could rise. Increased revenue from nonresident visitors would then be used to 'improve the infrastructure of, or otherwise enhance enjoyment of or access to, America's Federal recreational areas.' While the foreign visitor fees could bring in more revenue for the parks, the Trump administration has also proposed cutting the National Park Service's staffing budgets and service operations by 30 percent, The Hill reports. Meanwhile, the Interior Department's budget proposal is requesting $2 billion for the national parks, down more than $1 billion from the current budget. It would be the largest cut in NPS history, according to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). Nonetheless, Trump's order calls for efforts to increase visitor capacity at America's national parks, invest in infrastructure at the sites, and improve park access to American families by ensuring they 'receive priority access in any permitting or reservation systems.' The National Park Service had its biggest year of attendance in 2024, with more than two dozen sites seeing record visitation.

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