Trump Discloses $750 Million in Stock Trades Amid Conflict-of-Interest Scrutiny
Financial disclosures show up to $750 million in trades over 90 days, including significant positions in Palantir, Dell, and Intel, raising questions despite claims of a blind trust.
President Donald Trump has disclosed up to $750 million in stock trades executed over a 90-day period in early 2026, a volume that has drawn sharp comparisons to the trading activity of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The disclosures, filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on May 14, cover the period from January through March 2026 and document more than 3,600 individual securities transactions. This equates to approximately 40 to 60 trades per market day, with cumulative values ranging from $220 million to $750 million.
The scale of the President’s trading activity stands in stark contrast to the $59 million in trades disclosed by Pelosi’s household over a three-year period. Pelosi’s trading volume previously inspired the "Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act," commonly known as the PELOSI Act, which was later renamed the HONEST Act. While Congress is bound by the STOCK Act of 2012 to disclose trades within 45 days and prohibits trading on material non-public information, federal conflict-of-interest statutes that bar executive-branch employees from acting on matters where they hold a financial stake do not apply to the President.
Trump’s portfolio includes significant holdings in major technology firms, including Palantir, Dell, and Intel. Notable positions include between $1 million and $5 million each in Nvidia, Apple, and an S&P 500 index fund, alongside multi-million-dollar purchases of Oracle. The timing of some trades has attracted scrutiny, particularly regarding Intel, where the U.S. government holds a 9.9% stake acquired in August 2025. During a CNBC broadcast in May, co-host Jim Cramer fell silent when reminded of the President’s Intel trades, highlighting the sensitivity of the issue on financial media platforms.
Criticism has also focused on the President’s engagement with specific companies. Trump purchased Palantir stock multiple times in March 2026, shortly after endorsing the firm on Truth Social and citing its "war fighting capabilities." Similarly, he bought $1 million to $5 million in Dell shares in February, three months after the Dell family pledged $6.25 billion to a federal wealth-building program. The President praised Dell at a White House event in May, after which the stock jumped roughly 14 per cent intraday.
The White House maintains that there are no conflicts of interest, with spokesman Davis Ingle stating that the President only acts in the best interests of the American public. The Trump Organization asserts that the portfolio is held in a trust managed by the President’s children, with investment decisions handled by third-party institutions through fully discretionary accounts. Despite these claims, the filings do not specify who directed individual trades, exact prices, or profit-and-loss figures. Trump paid a $200 fine for the late filing of these disclosures.
