Trump calls GOP's Hawley 'second tier' senator after bill to ban stock
trades in government advances
[July 31, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO and LEAH ASKARINAM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Josh Hawley
on Wednesday after the Republican's proposal to ban stock trading by
members of Congress — and the president and vice president — won
bipartisan approval to advance in a committee vote.
It’s the second time in as many days that Trump laid into senators in
his own party as the president tries, sometimes without success, to
publicly pressure them to fall in line. A day earlier, Trump tore into
veteran GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa over an obscure Senate procedure
regarding nominations.
Trump called Hawley a “second-tier Senator” who was playing into the
hands of Democrats.
“I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had
unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the 'whims' of a second-tier
Senator named Josh Hawley!”
GOP senators had been working with the White House on the stock trade
bill, and some supported a broad carve-out to exclude the president from
the ban, but it failed, with Hawley joining Democrats to block it. Trump
complained that Hawley joined with Democrats to block another amendment
that would have investigated the stock trades of Democratic Rep. Nancy
Pelosi, the speaker emerita, and her spouse. Paul Pelosi has been a
much-watched trader, but Pelosi’s office said she personally does not
own stock.
Hawley did not immediately respond to Trump’s post.
But Hawley’s legislation with the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters
of Michigan, sailed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, after his support delivered a bipartisan vote over
the objections of the other Republicans, who have majority control.
In a joint statement, Hawley and Peters said the legislation, called the
Honest Act, builds on an earlier bill and would ban members of Congress,
the president, vice president and their spouses from holding, buying or
selling stock. An earlier proposal from Hawley had focused more narrowly
on lawmakers.
“We have an opportunity here today to do something that the public has
wanted to do for decades,” Hawley told the panel. “And that is to ban
members of Congress from profiting on information that frankly only
members of Congress have on the buying and selling of stock.”
Stock trading by members of Congress has long been an issue that the
parties have tried to tackle, especially as some elected officials have
become wealthy while in elected office. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in
particular, it was disclosed that lawmakers were trading as information
about the health crisis became known. Insider trading laws don’t always
apply to the types of information lawmakers receive.
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President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the
South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
If the bill were to become law, it would immediately prohibit
elected officials, including the president, from buying stocks and
would ban them from selling stocks for 90 days after enactment. It
also requires the elected officials to divest from all covered
investments, but not until starting at the beginning of their next
term in office — shielding Trump from that requirement.
During the committee hearing, tensions flared as Republicans sought
other approaches.
GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida proposed one amendment that would
exempt the president, the vice president, their spouses and
dependent children from the legislation, and the other one that
would have required a report on the Pelosi family's trades. Both
were defeated, with Hawley joining the Democrats.
“We are one step closer to getting this bill passed into law and
finally barring bad actors from taking advantage of their positions
for their own financial gain,” Peters said in a statement.
Pelosi said she strongly supports the bill and looks forward to
voting for it.
“The American people deserve confidence that their elected leaders
are serving the public interest — not their personal portfolios,”
she said.
She also gave nod to the dig in the initial Republican proposal —
the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and
Investments, or Pelosi Act — which had focused more narrowly on the
lawmakers.
One Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said the overall bill
is “legislative demagoguery.”
“We do have insider trading laws. We have financial disclosure.
Trust me, we have financial disclosure,” Johnson said. “So I don’t
see the necessity of this.”
Trump’s post criticizing Hawley comes after a similar blowback
directed Tuesday night at Grassley.
In that post, Trump pressured Grassley to do away with the Senate's
longtime “blue slip” custom that often forces bipartisan support on
presidential nominations of federal judges. The practice requires
both senators in a state to agree to push a nominee forward for a
vote. Trump told Grassley to do away with the practice.
“Senator Grassley must step up,” Trump said, while claiming that he
helped the senator, who was first elected in 1980, to win
reelection.
Grassley earlier Wednesday said he was “offended” by what the
president said.
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