Trump Bullies Hawley Into Submission on Stock Trading Ban

President Donald Trump has managed to gain leverage on a bill that would ban him from buying stocks by chewing out the Republican author for all to see on social media.

Senator Josh Hawley all but admitted to caving to Trump after the president attacked him as “second tier” and suggested he was in league with Democrats in a post on Truth Social. Hawley’s offense? Authoring a bill that would ban members of Congress, as well as the president and the vice-president, from trading stocks.

The bill, which Trump said he would “absolutely” sign when it applied only to Congress last spring, was later expanded to include the president and vice-president starting in 2027, a move intended to garner support from Democrats. But the White House is said to have pushed back hard after catching wind of the changes, and Republican lawmakers subsequently complained that Trump could be targeted. As a result, the bill was changed to take effect for presidents and vice-presidents only in 2029, protecting Trump from a divestment requirement.

Hawley was the only Republican to join Democrats in an 8–7 vote in a committee on Wednesday to move the legislation to the full Senate, and Trump reacted furiously.

“He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats,” the president wrote. “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!”

Trump claimed his issue with the bill was its failure to include a report on the stock trades of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, a measure that had been proposed by Republican senator Rick Scott but was ultimately voted against.

Initially, Trump told reporters he liked the bill “conceptually” but needed to have a closer look at the details — which, it became clear a few hours later, had failed to impress him: “Very much like SABOTAGE! The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to ‘Target’ me for a long period of time, and they’re using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them,” he wrote on Truth Social.

While the final version of the bill approved by committee would shield Trump from a divestment requirement, he would still be barred from buying stocks and subject to a 90-day ban on selling stocks.

But Hawley told reporters he’s open to making changes to get Trump onboard — and he’s not offended by the public mockery.

“I love the president,” he said. “Listen, I want the president to sign the bill, so I’m happy to do whatever it would take to get him to say, ‘Yes, this is good.’”

The goal, he said, was “to get to a place where he feels good.”

The two met later Wednesday for a “nice visit,” and Trump said he wants to “move full-speed ahead” with the legislation, according to Hawley. It’s not clear if they discussed any further amendments, but Hawley did go on Fox News afterward to share Trump’s message that Pelosi is the real target of the bill, and that she should, actually, be prosecuted.

The fate of the bill is unclear, and it seems unlikely to win support from the GOP majority for a floor vote, since most Republicans were against it.

Scott, widely seen as a Trump fixer in the Senate, had railed against the “disgusting” bill for what he described as its attack on people who “make money.”

“Anyone want to be poor? I don’t,” said Scott, one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Senator Rand Paul also came out swinging against the legislation, calling it “really crummy” for its last-minute carve-out protecting Trump.

“I will oppose the substitute change because I think it should apply to everybody or nobody,” he said. “You will be voting to protect Donald Trump if you vote for this substitute. If this is a great bill … it should apply to Donald Trump.”