The Schiff investigation: how Trump’s entourage could have used insider information
10 April 14:26
Senator Adam Schiff said that Democrats in Congress will launch an investigation into the administration of President Donald Trump on suspicion of insider trading following the recent volatility in the markets caused by his changes in tariff policy. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to NewsWeek.
Despite assurances that he would remain steadfast on his wide-ranging tariffs on trading partners around the world, Trump on Wednesday unexpectedly announced a 90-day pause in tariffs for most countries.
A signal from Trump
On Wednesday, Schiff drew attention to a statement that Trump posted on social media a few hours before announcing the 90-day pause on tariffs.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT!”
– Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform a few minutes after the markets opened.
Responding to this post, Schiff said that the question is who, between this tweet and Donald Trump’s announcement of the tariff halt, knew what the president was going to do and whether people around the president were trading the stock.
Schiff said that Democrats are writing to the White House demanding answers, adding that he
“is fully aware of the fact that the White House is probably the last place to be forthright about this. We in Congress must do more than just demand answers. We must exercise the necessary oversight to get those answers.”
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Positions
“Well, I thought people got a little bit out of line, they got too nervous… a little bit scared.”
trump said when asked why he suspended the tariffs.
“Look, this is a president who trades his own meme coin, even as president, his kids trade their own cryptocurrency. You have people like Elon Musk doing their own deals in the administration. In any administration that is that corrupt, it is more than necessary to ask whether people were personally benefiting from insider information while people’s savings, their retirement accounts were burning?”
Senator Adam Schiff
“The bottom line is that the chaotic nature of this tariff policy, with Trump’s position changing by the hour, provides ample opportunity for anyone with early access to information about the White House’s changing position to make a ton of money, either by investing at the right time or by taking their money out of the market at the right time. This whole White House is one big deception.”
Senator Chris Murphy
“Any member of Congress who bought stock in the last 48 hours should probably disclose it now. I’ve heard some interesting conversations in the hearing room. The deadline for disclosure is May 15. We’re about to learn something new. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, member of the House of Representatives
Is it getting worse?
Trump’s post-signal may not be the worst thing Trump has done. In the 10-15 minutes before the announcement, when everyone was living in the belief that Trump’s tariffs were in effect, NASDAQ call options jumped as sharply as possible. It looks like a group of people knew that Trump would soon write his post about stopping the tariffs. And, accordingly, they bought up shares a little earlier than others.
Trump himself, without batting an eye, publicly meets with people who made money on this jump – the relevant videos are being shared on social media.
Many people are also concerned about this point.
“The volume of NASDAQ call options spiked a few minutes before the announcement of the 90-day pause in duties. This looks very suspicious,”
– spencer Hakimian, founder of Tolou Capital Management, wrote in X.
In general, as reported by , the day Trump suspended his tariffs was the “best day ever” for billionaires – a day when they won back with a margin all that they had lost in the previous weeks of Trump’s trade wars.
Trump’s tariffs
The fever in the markets was caused by the fact that on April 2, US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of tariffs against almost all countries of the world (except Russia, Belarus, Cuba and the DPRK). These tariffs, according to the White House, will be half of the tariff that a particular country has imposed on US goods. For example, China allegedly imposes a 67% tariff on US goods, so the US imposed a 34% tariff on Chinese goods.
For those countries that do not impose special duties on American goods, a basic tariff of 10% was introduced.
Trump called the introduction of such trade barriers “Liberation Day” and said that this day would go down in US history as the beginning of the restoration of the American economy and greatness.
Interestingly, the comparative table released by the White House provides data on tariffs against 185 countries, but Russia is not on the list. Instead, it includes the Herd and McDonald Islands, which were subject to a basic 10% tariff. The only thing is that there is not a single person on these islands.
on April 9, Trump announced that he was postponing the introduction of tariffs for 90 days for those countries that did not impose retaliatory tariffs but contacted Trump to negotiate. According to him, there were more than 75 such countries. It was this decision that caused the markets to jump.
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