• Markets tumbled — and then soared — on Trump's tariff announcements in the last two weeks.
• Now, Democrats are suggesting Trump engaged in market manipulation and insider trading.
• Lawmakers and Cabinet officials have weeks to disclose any trades they made in the last week.

As the stock market began to slide in the wake of President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement, Sen. Bernie Moreno offered a suggestion: Buy the dip.

"I would go out and buy stocks today," the Ohio Republican told reporters the day after Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff and a host of steeper "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of countries. "Lots of opportunity, lots of companies that have great valuation. There's no reason that Apple stock should be down."

Moreno's financial advice may have been a bit early — the market tumbled even further in the days after he made those remarks — but broadly, he was correct. Stock markets regained much of their prior value after Trump announced on Wednesday that much of his tariffs would be paused for 90 days.

Now, some Democrats are lobbing accusations of insider trading and market manipulation, pointing to Trump's declaration earlier that morning that it was a "great time to buy." In letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Government Ethics, Democratic senators have argued that the president or others close to him may have bought up stock with the knowledge that markets were about to rebound due to a tariff pause.

"We need to get to the bottom of the possible stock manipulation that is unfolding before the American people," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Thursday.

The White House, for its part, is denying the allegations.

"It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. "Democrats railed against China's cheating for decades, and now they're playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump's decisive action yesterday to finally corner China."

There's not yet any evidence that any Trump allies traded on prior knowledge of the president's announcement, and we may not have a full picture of which politicians even bought the dip until mid-to-late May. Members of Congress and executive branch officials, including cabinet members, have 45 days to disclose any stock trades they've made.

Some are calling on their colleagues to come clean before then. "Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York wrote on X. "You might as well get it out into the public domain now because it's coming later, and there's nothing that you can do about it," Jeffries said.

'We're not here to feed at the trough'

One lawmaker who has already disclosed purchasing stocks during the dip: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump's staunchest allies in Congress.

On Monday, the Georgia Republican plunged somewhere between $19,000 and $285,000 into the stock market, buying up shares in 17 different companies — including Apple — in the day's after Trump's announcement. Many of those stocks have enjoyed a net gain since then.

In a statement to BI, Greene said that her trades had been made by someone else on her behalf. She also dismissed the idea of putting her assets into a blind trust, as some ethics-minded lawmakers advocate.

"After many successful years of running my own business, I ran for Congress to bring that mindset to Washington. Now that I'm proudly serving the people of Northwest Georgia, I have signed a fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments," Greene said. "All of my investments are reported with full transparency. I refuse to hide my stock trades in a blind trust like many others do."

The episode has once again brought the issue of stock trading in Congress to the fore. The trades made by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband have long been a source of controversy, and for years, lawmakers in both parties have been trying to ban the practice.

"Frankly, I don't care if Democrats did it, I don't care if Republicans did it, we're not here to feed at the trough," Ocasio-Cortez said. "There is either an appearance or, at worst, an active intent when you have this conflict of interest."

Many lawmakers have run for office in recent years on banning stock trading, or have voluntarily opted not to trade themselves. That includes Moreno, who told BI this week that he ultimately didn't take his own advice.

"I don't buy stocks," Moreno said, adding that during his 2024 Senate campaign, he agreed to sell off his stocks "so that we wouldn't have uncomfortable, weird conversations like this."

Sen. Josh Hawley told BI that the controversy was all the more reason to pass his bill to ban not just lawmakers, but executive branch officials from trading stocks. "That would take care of most of those concerns," he said.

Still, the Missouri Republican was dismissive of the actual claims of insider trading.

"The President didn't decide what he was going to do until he did it," Hawley said. "This idea that it's some elaborate insider scheme? Democrats have too much time on their hands."

• Some Republicans have signed onto bills or efforts to limit Trump's tariff powers.
• At a dinner with House Republicans on Tuesday, Trump fired back with mockery.
• "Congress takes over negotiating, sell America fast, because you're going to go busted," he said.

President Donald Trump has had enough of Republicans on Capitol Hill who are attempting to rein in his tariff powers.

At a fundraising dinner for House Republicans' campaign arm on Tuesday night, Trump openly mocked lawmakers in his own party who have sought to assert Congress's authority over trade.

"I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass," Trump told a room full of House Republicans. "And then I'll see some rebel Republican, you know, some guy that wants to grandstand, say, 'I think that Congress should take over negotiations.'"

"Let me tell you, you don't negotiate like I negotiate," Trump continued. "Congress takes over negotiating, sell America fast, because you're going to go busted."

Last week, four GOP senators — including former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — voted for a resolution that would block Trump from imposing tariffs on Canada. Separately, seven GOP senators have signed onto a bill to require Congress to approve any new tariffs within 60 days.

Both efforts have little chance of becoming law, and if they reached Trump's desk, he could issue a veto. Still, both have exposed underlying rifts among Republicans on Trump's approach to trade.

On Tuesday night, Trump seemed to refer to GOP congressmen who had signed onto the House version of the tariff approval bill, which so far includes Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Jeff Hurd of Colorado.

"I just saw it today, a couple of your congressman said, 'I think we should get involved in the negotiation of the tariffs,' Trump said in a mocking tone. "That's what I need. I need some guy telling me how to negotiate. I tell you, the happiest people in the world would be China."

Trump also said that Republicans pushing for a greater role for Congress in trade were undermining his administration's ongoing negotiations with countries on trade.

"Even the concept of it hurts your negotiation," Trump said. "When they see a little story like that, the other side, you know, it hurts your negotiation. And then the fake news wants to build it up, and it has no chance anyway."