House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats in the House will launch an investigation into President Donald Trump’s recent move to encourage his allies to invest just hours before he paused his aggressive tariffs — an unexpected decision that sent stock prices soaring.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Jeffries said Democrats want to know if Trump or any Republican lawmakers used inside information for financial gain.
“We need to get to the bottom of the possible stock manipulation that is unfolding before the American people, including what, if any, advance knowledge did members of the House Republican Conference have of Trump’s decision to pause the reckless tariffs that he put into place?” Jeffries said.
Trump’s new tariffs, introduced last week, had shaken up global markets and caused a massive sell-off on Wall Street, wiping out more than $6 trillion in just two days.
Then, on Wednesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social—his social media platform—encouraging people to invest.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” he wrote.
Just hours later, Trump announced he was scaling back the tariffs, cutting them to 10% for most countries, except China. The markets immediately shot up, making it the biggest one-day surge in nearly 20 years.
The timing of Trump’s post and policy change has raised serious concerns. Critics are asking whether he used his position to influence the stock market and whether anyone close to him, including GOP lawmakers, acted on that information to profit.
Federal laws ban insider trading—buying or selling stocks using private information. Members of Congress also face additional rules to prevent them from trading on information they learn in office.
Jeffries said Democrats will look into both.
“There are several members of Congress who will be aggressively demanding answers and transparency, particularly as it relates to stock purchase decisions that may have occurred over the last few days,” he said.
It’s not yet clear who will lead the investigation or how much power Democrats have to dig into the matter from the minority. But Jeffries pointed out that lawmakers must report any stock trades within 30 to 45 days of making them.
“Members of the House of Representatives will have to disclose any stock trades that they’ve made 30 days from the date of those trades, or potentially no later than 45 days. And so the reality is, people are going to have to pay the piper in terms of disclosure,” Jeffries said.
“Our point is: You might as well get it out into the public domain now, because it’s coming later,” he added. “And there’s nothing that you can do about it.”
