Trump’s accounts recorded up to $270 million in July trades, disclosures show

WASHINGTON — Investment accounts held in President Donald Trump’s name recorded 1,156 transactions in July, with trades valued at between $79 million and $270 million, according to a newly released disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). The filing lists 440 purchases and 716 sales; federal reporting rules do not require exact transaction amounts.

The activity extends beyond one month. Trump’s accounts logged more than 21,000 transactions during his first year back in office, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed 29 transactions for all of 2025, every one a sale. The difference reflects a legal divide: the president is exempt from the primary federal statute governing financial conflicts of interest, while Cabinet members face divestment requirements.

A White House spokesperson said Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his adult children. Third-party, automated “computer-based model portfolios” execute the trades to track major market indices such as the Schwab 1000, rather than through active decisions by the president, White House officials said. Such portfolios buy and sell underlying equities to maintain precise indexing, harvest tax losses or rebalance allocations. Because the accounts remain in Trump’s name, federal law requires disclosure of each automated transaction.

The volume and timing of those trades prompted Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) to raise concerns in a formal joint letter to Trump. Congressional Democrats have criticized the arrangement, arguing that the president’s ability to move markets through policy announcements or public statements creates a risk of market distortion or insider benefit. Warren and Garcia questioned whether his public platform or non-public government insights were inadvertently or systematically influencing his private holdings’ performance.

Most modern presidents, since the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 established financial disclosure requirements for federal officials, have put liquid assets in an OGE-certified Qualified Blind Trust or invested exclusively in broad, diversified mutual funds. OGE rules require an independent financial institution to manage a Qualified Blind Trust without the officeholder’s knowledge or input. Trump’s trust does not meet that standard because his children manage it and its assets are identifiable. Walter Shaub, a former OGE director who resigned during Trump’s first term, previously said the arrangement fell short of ethical benchmarks followed by other executive branch nominees and past presidents.

Other executive branch officials are subject to Title 18, Section 208 of the U.S. Code, which criminally prohibits their participation in government matters that could directly affect their personal financial interests. Nominees negotiate ethics agreements with the OGE that frequently require them to divest individual stocks, corporate bonds and sector-specific private equity holdings before confirmation.

Bessent, a veteran Wall Street macro investor who founded the hedge fund Key Square Group in 2015, used his 2025 transactions to shed assets that could overlap with his authority over the U.S. financial system, tax policy and international trade. His disclosures include sales of interests in entities tied to Key Square Group and shares in Verizon and agricultural processor Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM). They also include corrective adjustments to a JPMorgan Chase position held by his husband, John Freeman, that earlier filings had erroneously classified as a standard deposit account.

The Trump administration has meanwhile backed a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. In July, it announced strong support for the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would bar lawmakers and their immediate families from buying or selling individual stocks while in office. Proponents say the measure is needed to restore public trust because lawmakers oversee industry regulations and regularly receive sensitive classified briefings.

The House of Representatives passed the bill during its summer session, but it has stalled in the Senate largely over a conservative policy rider that would impose new, strict voter identification requirements for federal elections. Congressional Democrats oppose that provision. The bill’s trading restrictions would apply exclusively to lawmakers, leaving the statutory exemptions for the president and vice president unchanged.