Trump calls out Nancy Pelosi over stock-trading ban during State of the Union

President Donald Trump called out former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during his State of the Union address Tuesday, urging lawmakers to pass a ban on congressional stock trading — an issue that has long been a source of criticism for the California lawmaker.

“Let’s also ensure that members of congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” Trump said, before adding, “Did Nancy Pelosi stand up? … Doubt it.”

While Pelosi said she doesn’t trade or personally own stocks, her venture capitalist husband Paul Pelosi does, and has grown the power couple’s wealth exponentially during her congressional career. 

When she first entered office, Pelosi and her husband reported between $610,000 and $785,000 in stock holdings according to her 1987 financial disclosure form — nearly 40 year later, her trade volume has exploded to more than $99 million, according to Capitol Trades, which monitors stock market activity for lawmakers. 

The 85-year-old, who critics argue benefitted from insider information as one of the most influential politicians, pushed back on the president’s jab, telling Trump to “look at your own self.”

“I say back to him, as that’s what members said, look at your own self,” Pelosi told CNN. “The inference he wants to draw is there was something wrong with that, which there wasn’t, and if there was, people get prosecuted for it. For a long time now we’ve been trying to pass this law. It doesn’t have — now it has more support than it had before.”

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Pelosi told the outlet that she did in fact stand up when Trump pressed congress to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would prevent members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing or trading individual stocks, bonds, and other securities. 

“He said, ‘Did Nancy stand up?’ Yeah, I did, too. A lot of people stood up, a lot of Democrats stood up,” Pelosi said on CNN. 

But Pelosi hasn’t always been keen on the idea. 

In 2021, the Congresswoman dismissed a stock trading ban, adding that it goes against the principles of a free market economy. 

“We’re a free market economy,” Pelosi said at the time. “They should be able to participate in that.”

She did however, support already enacted legislation that requires lawmakers to disclose their financial transactions in accordance with the STOCK Act. 

While Pelosi, who is serving her final term in office, has solidified herself as one of the most powerful women in American political history, she has also left an asterisk on her legacy for being on the wrong side of the stock trading debate, according to the New York Times. 

“The widespread perception that she was on the wrong side of the debate over congressional stock trading, and personally benefited from the practice, has put an asterisk on that legacy,” The Times reported  

Pelosi said she would now vote in support of the ban.