In the lead up to President Donald J. Trump’s Declaration Day in early April, congressional trading activities saw an unexpected hike as his forthcoming tariff pronouncements put global finance markets into chaos, vaporizing trillions of dollars in the process. It seems that a number of political figures, Marjorie Taylor Greene among them, exploited the market crash, making lucrative stock trades during the turmoil. To their advantage, the markets were quick to rebound from the damaging effect of Trump’s unanticipated tariff declarations.
Not only politicians but high-ranking officials, such as the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, also played the market astutely before the crisis. A periodic transaction examination made public recently unraveled Hegseth’s extensive stock trades made a little over a week before Declaration Day. These calculated moves saved him from significant financial fallout amidst tumultuous market fluctuations.
Pete Hegseth, prior to the market crash, sold off shares from 23 major companies. His transactions, conducted on March 24th, ranged in worth from $100,000 to $550,000. Shares from powerhouse companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Advanced Micro Devices featured in his sell-off.
Furthermore, stocks from Walmart, Oracle, Visa, Mastercard, Costco, JPMorgan, Chubb, and PepsiCo were also traded by Hegseth. In addition, he disposed of shares of International Business Machines, T-Mobile, Lowe’s, Ares Capital, Danaher Corp., Thermo Fischer Scientific, and Mondelez International.
The list doesn’t end here. He traded stocks of Trane Technologies, The PNC Financial Services Group, and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings. The striking fact is that the value of these stocks experienced a substantial drop post-Trump’s April 2nd declarations.
He conducted most of his trading transactions in the range of $1,000 to $15,000, though a few of the stock sales were carried out for a much higher figure, between $15,001 and $50,000. These findings have further fueled long-standing debates surrounding congressional trading and its potential link to insider trading.
Many argue that people holding key government positions get access to highly sensitive information that can significantly sway market conditions. A classic example is the former House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who managed to yield triple-digit returns over a ten-year period. This accomplishment has sparked ongoing conjecture about the likelihood of insider trading, something Pelosi has consistently debunked.
Hegseth, in light of his recent stock trading activities, has been under similar scrutiny. He has even been dragged into the insider trading debate, which is rapidly gaining traction. The disclosure report, in addition to previous revelations, uncovered Hegseth’s transactions involving multinational corporations like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Blackstone, and Honeywell International.
Adding to the list, KKR & Co. was another company from which Hegseth sold stocks. His trading activities were reported right after he clinched the role of defense secretary in early February. Interestingly, the profit from these trades were classified as assets belonging to his spouse.
Jeff Hauser, the founder of the Revolving Door Project, opined that Hegseth’s stock trading strategy might serve dual purposes. First, it could be perceived as an effort to offload stocks to dispel any misgivings of a potential conflict of interest. Second, it could be seen as a strategic move to time the trades adeptly ahead of the Declaration Day tariffs, which were poised to induce a market crash.