Trump 'Insider Trading' Scandal: How The Don Is Facing Stock Market Manipulation Accusations After Declaring It Was 'A Great Time to Buy' Following Tariff Trade War U-Turn
Donald Trump has now, unsurprisingly, found himself in more trouble.
April 10 2025, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
Donald Trump is being accused of manipulating the stock market, after urging people to buy stock just before putting a pause on his tariffs hike.
On Wednesday, April 9, the president announced a 90-day pause on the increase, but doubled-down on the tariffs jump for China after they showed a "lack of respect," RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Trump urged people to buy stock amid the tariffs crisis.
Trump recently revealed his plan for a 10 percent "baseline" tariff, which will impact all of US imports except items from Mexico and Canada. More tariffs on goods from 57 trading partners, including the European Union and China, went into effect on Wednesday.
When the US markets opened that same morning, Trump wrote on X: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT."
However, less than four hours later, the 78-year-old shook investors by announcing the tariffs pause in response to "more than 75 countries" reaching out to attempt to negotiate a new deal.
The president, however, then announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs increase just hours later.
It is rare the former reality star signs his tweets off with his initials, as those letters are the same as the ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group – they control the social media platform Truth Social, whose stock shot up by 22 percent on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 blue chip index closed up by more than 9 percent, and stocks also rose in Asia and Europe on Thursday, April 10.
Democratic senator Adam Schiff noticed the increases, leading him to call out Trump and attempt to open up an investigation.
Schiff said: “These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading.
"Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip-flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House – the public has a right to know.”
Democratic senator Chris Murphy also claimed an “insider trading scandal is brewing," and added: "Trump’s 9:30am tweet makes it clear he was eager for his people to make money off the private info only he knew. So who knew ahead of time and how much money did they make?”
Democratic senator Adam Schiff called for an investigation into Trump.
The always vocal Democratic representative from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, urged for all members of Congress to disclose any stocks they had bought in the past 24 hours.
“I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor,” she wrote. “Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
Trump claimed he had been thinking about the unexpected tariffs pause for "a period of time. I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, claimed this was Trump's plan all along and boasted it was all about the “art of the deal."
Before his dramatic 180, Trump begged citizens to relax as many of them voiced their concerns over a potential financial crisis.
"BE COOL. Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” Trump claimed on X.
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Trump claimed his 90-day pause was due to 'yippy' people.
Asked why he decided to back away from his absurd tariffs plan, Trump told reporters: "I thought people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions," referring to NASCAR Cup Series champions Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney who stood alongside him.
He added: “I’m honored to have done it and look, nothing’s over yet."
