Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for an investigation into whether members of Congress engaged in insider trading on the day President Donald Trump sent stock prices soaring by pausing his "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from around the world.

And she's renewing her call for a ban on stock trading by members of Congress.

What You Need To Know

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for an investigation into whether members of Congress engaged in insider trading on the day President Donald Trump sent stock prices soaring by pausing his "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from around the world

  • Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats have been zeroing in on what happened Wednesday beginning with a social media post by the President at 9:37 a.m., when he talked up the flagging stock market, which had wracked up major losses in the week following his April 2 announcement of tariffs

  • In a statement, the White House pushed back on the notion that Trump manipulated the markets 

“If people are pissed about insider trading here at the [U.S.] House, look at what's happening at the White House right now, with the Republican Party,” Ocasio-Cortez told Spectrum News NY1. 

Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats have been zeroing in on what happened Wednesday beginning with a social media post by the President at 9:37 a.m., when he talked up the flagging stock market, which had wracked up major losses in the week following his April 2 announcement of tariffs.

Trump posted on social media, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”

Less than four hours later, the president announced the 90 day pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, triggering a powerful rally. By the end of the trading day, the Dow Jones closed up nearly 3000 points.

“I don't think that Trump just coincidentally said buy stocks and then shortly later made an announcement that dramatically inflated and dramatically raised a lot of these asset prices,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.

The Bronx congresswoman called on the Republican-run House Oversight Committee to investigate whether lawmakers on Capitol Hill were given a heads up that Trump was going to reverse course on the tariffs. She said she is eager to review lawmakers’ stock disclosures to see if they were trading around Wednesday’s White House about face, and joined a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson urging him to request lawmakers release those disclosures immediately. 

She also argued this incident underscores the need for Congress to adopt bipartisan legislation she is co-sponsoring to prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents from trading individual stocks. 

“I do not care if you're a Democrat, I do not care if you're a Republican: If you are trading individual stock when the market is being manipulated in this way, you need to answer for it,” she said. 

In a statement, the White House pushed back on the notion that Trump manipulated the markets. 

"It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” White House spokesman Kush Desai wrote. 

“Democrats railed against China's cheating for decades, and now they're playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump's decisive action yesterday to finally corner China,” he continued.

Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in raising questions about Wednesday’s series of events. Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Adam Schiff of California have wrote Thursday to the Office of Government Ethics demanding a federal investigation of Trump and his administration.

And the top two Democrats on Capitol Hill - House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both New Yorkers - joined in Thursday in calling for answers.

“We need to get to the bottom of the possible stock manipulation that is unfolding before the American people, including what - if any - advanced knowledge did members of the House Republican Conference have of Trump's decision to pause the reckless tariffs,” Jeffries told reporters Thursday.

“Why did [Trump] feel the need to add his initials? Was it to signal to his friends and family that he was going to pause the tariffs so they should buy low, knowing the Market would boom?” Schumer posted on social media. “We need to find out. We must investigate.”