WASHINGTON — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., doubled down Tuesday on his support for banning presidents — along with other federal officials — from trading individual stocks.
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“I’d be in favor of a uniform rule for everybody,” Hawley told NBC News when asked about a recent filing that showed President Donald Trump made thousands of stock trades in recent months.
“By everybody, I mean everybody, Supreme Court justices, you pick it, that says you can’t trade in stock,” he added. “I mean, I’m in support of that. So, I’d start with Congress, but … I’d be happy to extend it all across the board.”
The senator’s comments came after NBC News and other news outlets reported Trump or his investment managers made more than 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter of this year, according to a financial disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Those trades were of stock the president personally owns and involved major corporations with dealings before his administration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
In July, Trump lambasted Hawley after the senator joined Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to advance a ban on congressional stock trading that also covered the president and vice president. Three people familiar with the episode told NBC News at the time that Hawley did not consult with fellow Republicans or the White House before doing so.
“I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”
Hawley’s compromise legislation with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., delayed implementation for officials until the start of their next term, which would effectively exempt Trump. The bill advanced in the committee with unified Democratic support plus that of Hawley, but has since stalled.
After Trump’s criticism, Hawley said in July a follow-up conversation with the president went well and that they both wanted to see a congressional stock trading ban enacted. Hawley said there was a misunderstanding that the bill would force Trump to sell his Mar-a-Lago club and other assets, adding that they cleared up the confusion in their discussion.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time the president “conceptually” was supportive of “the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves.”
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House press briefing that Trump “doesn’t sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his like Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks. That’s absurd.”
“He has independent wealth advisors who manage his money,” Vance said. “He is a wealthy person. He has had success in business. He’s not making these stock trades himself.”
Vance did not say whether he believes presidents and vice presidents should be barred from trading individual stocks but said he and Trump support banning members of Congress from doing so.
“All of us believe that nobody should be taking proprietary information gained from public service and buying and selling stocks,” he said, adding, “We want to ban that process, and I think the way to lead by example is banning that process, banning that approach, and making it illegal, which is exactly what the president has proposed doing.”
On whether he was surprised by the volume of Trump’s 3,700 trades, Hawley said Tuesday he wasn’t sure if that was a high number because he and his wife don’t trade or own shares of individual companies.
“We have our savings, our kids’ college savings are in broad-based mutual funds for this reason,” he said. “So, I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if that’s a normal amount or not. I would just say that I don’t trade, I don’t own individual stock, I’d love to make that the rule across the board.”
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