April 11, 2025
Wyden, Warren, Schumer, Senate Colleagues Call on SEC to Launch Investigation into Possible Trump Tariff Market Manipulation, Insider Trading
Senators: “It is unconscionable that as American families are concerned about their financial security during this economic crisis entirely manufactured by the President, insiders may have actively profited from the market volatility and potentially perpetrated financial fraud on the American public.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today joined with five colleagues to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether Donald Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, or Administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations.
“We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement,” the senators wrote in their letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins. “Before pausing the tariffs that threw markets into disarray, President Trump appears to have previewed his plans to do so on Truth Social: at 9:37 am, he announced, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” His official announcement of the tariff pause came roughly 4 hours later at 1:18 pm.”
Others signing the letter besides Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, were Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).
The senators also asked how Trump Administration cuts to the SEC might affect the agency’s ability to respond to large-scale market events and pursue enforcement actions. They requested answers to their questions by April 25, 2025.
The entire letter is here.
