Adam Schiff Calls For Insider Trading Investigation into Trump Over Tariff Pause

Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing.

“I’m going to do my best to find out,” Schiff, a California Democrat, tells TIME. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.”

Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after the market opened on Wednesday, along with the letters “DJT,” which stands for both his initials and the ticker for his media company.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schiff is the first Senator to openly call for a congressional investigation into potential insider trading by the Trump Administration in the aftermath of the President’s abrupt reversal on the implementation of new tariffs. Such investigations would typically fall under the purview of powerful congressional panels like the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Senate Finance Committee. Both are chaired by Republicans—Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho—who have largely avoided conflict with the White House. Individual lawmakers like Schiff can investigate matters using personal office staff, though such investigations would lack subpoena power.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, also a Democratic freshman, joined Schiff in signing a letter sent to the White House Thursday morning “to request an urgent inquiry into whether President Trump, his family, or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions” with advanced knowledge of non-public information about the tariff policy change.

“This sequence of events raises grave legal and ethics concerns,” read the letter, which was shared with TIME. “The President, his family, and his advisors are uniquely positioned to be privy to and take advantage of non-public information to inform their investment decisions. For instance, stock in Elon Musk's company, Tesla, increased 18 percent immediately following the President's announcement to pause most tariffs, which Mr. Musk had publicly opposed.”

Schiff and Gallego specifically ask the Office of Government Ethics to review and produce any periodic transaction reports filed by government officials familiar with Trump’s tariff strategy. The letter notes that Schiff had yet to hear back from the ethics office on his February request for information about Musk complying with conflict-of-interest reporting rules given his work with the Trump Administration.

The timing of Trump’s announcement—and the market rally that followed—has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. “When my own barber asks me whether Donald Trump is selling short or doing this to try to make money for himself, it shows that a lot of people are pretty suspicious about what’s going on,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, tells TIME on Wednesday.

Read more: In Congress, Trump’s Tariff Pullback Sparks Relief, Frustration, and Suspicion

Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, when asked by TIME on Wednesday if Trump should be investigated for potential market manipulation, said: “It’s a great question. He certainly had a lot to gain. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat, was one of the first to question whether the tariff pause was tied to market manipulation, as the news came out in the middle of a heated hearing with Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, who had vigorously defended the tariffs. Horsford shouted, “This is amateur hour. You just got the rug pulled out from under you.” He demanded to know whether the administration had deliberately moved the markets. “This is not a game. This is real life,” Horsford said.

The market’s response to Trump’s decision was swift and euphoric. Stocks jumped more than 7% within minutes of the announcement, ultimately closing up more than 9%. Bond yields, which had been rising amid fears of an economic downturn, eased. Oil prices, which had also been falling, rebounded.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, said the tariff pause was the “strategy all along” and meant to give space for bespoke negotiations with allies. “The only certainty we can provide is that the U.S. is going to negotiate in good faith,” he said. But Bessent also acknowledged that he and the President had spoken at length before the decision, and that the move had helped "goad China into a bad position."

Trump’s explanation, however, only added to the uncertainty. He cited "yippy" people who were “afraid,” and said he had been watching the bond market, which he described as “beautiful” after his announcement. He told reporters that “you have to be flexible,” and acknowledged that “over the last few days it looked pretty glum.”

Read more: Trump Wants to Spin His Tariff Pause as a Win. It’s Not.

Schiff sees a pattern in Trump’s economic policymaking. “I think what American businesspeople need is some certainty, some predictability,” he said. “They're getting anything but. Americans who have seen their retirement savings wiped out need to be made whole.”