Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are slamming Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for what they called profiteering over wild market swings sparked by President Trump’s unpredictable tariffs campaign.
The New York Democrats called for an investigation into reports that Greene bought stocks before Trump announced a 90-day delay of his tariffs against almost all trading partners, a move that sent Wall Street soaring.
Greene also sold treasury bonds, benefitting from a dip in their price sparked by the same dramatic Trump actions.
“So many of these people are crooks, liars and frauds. And Marjorie Taylor Greene is, of course, exhibit A,” said Jeffries (D-New York), who is House Minority Leader. “We are seeing corruption unfold before us in real time.”
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, also trashed Greene at a rally Monday night in Boise, Idaho.
“We saw Marjorie Taylor Greene buy that dip,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who is headlining a progressive “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.). “I got one question for her: How much did you make? How much did you make off of people’s despair?”
Greene filed financial disclosure forms confirming she made stock purchases of up to $300,000 the day before and just after Trump’s April 9 announcement that he was delaying imposition of tariffs of up to 50% on imports from almost all nations except for China. Trump told supporters that it was a “great time to buy.”
The White House announcement sent Wall Street roaring back after a massive drop sparked by Trump’s original announcement of massive tariffs.
Greene reportedly bought stock in Apple, Tesla, Nvidia and other corporations that have seen outsized jumps in their share prices since Trump’s announcement.
The right-wing Georgia Republican dismissed the allegations of insider trading and said her financial adviser makes trades without her knowledge or involvement of individual transactions.
“All of my investments are reported with full transparency,” she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Both Jeffries and Ocasio-Cortez said the disclosures about MTG should fuel a push to ban sitting lawmakers from trading stocks to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
“We do need to change the law so that sitting members of Congress cannot trade stock, period. Full stop,” Jeffries said.
Stock trading bans for lawmakers have been proposed by House members on both sides of the aisle.
It was a sensitive issue for Democrats as well as the GOP during the time of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), whose husband, Paul Pelosi, is a very successful stock-trading investor.
