Trump has publicly supported banning members of Congress from trading stocks, but not a ban that reaches the presidency. On July 30, 2025, a Senate committee advanced Sen. Josh Hawley's HONEST Act 8-7, with Hawley the only Republican voting yes. It was the one bill in play that listed “the President of the United States” and “the Vice President of the United States” among the officials it covers. An amendment from Sen. Rick Scott to exempt the president, the vice president and their families failed, with Hawley voting with Democrats, and the AP reported that “GOP senators had been working with the White House on the stock trade bill.” Later that day Trump attacked Hawley on Truth Social: “I don't think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the 'whims' of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!” He also asked why Hawley “would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with.”
The day before the vote, Axios reported the White House was “raising alarm” about the bill, and that “A White House official told Axios the concern is over the change that would impact the executive branch, not necessarily over the Congressional stock trading ban.” Hawley told Fox News Digital he never heard any such messaging from the administration, “certainly not from Trump.” Earlier on July 30, asked about the bill at a signing, Trump had said, “I don't know about it, but I like it conceptually.” After the post, Hawley said the two spoke and that the dispute was a misunderstanding: “The misunderstanding, Hawley said, was that Trump would have to sell his Mar-a-Lago private club and other assets,” the AP reported. As reported to the Senate in December 2025, the bill bars covered officials from buying stocks once it takes effect but requires those already in office to divest only when they begin “a new term of service.” It has not reached the Senate floor.
Trump's support for a ban limited to Congress is on the record. In an April 2025 Time interview he said, “Well, I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,” and, asked if he would sign it, “Absolutely.” In his February 24, 2026 State of the Union he said, “Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.” That bill, Rep. Bryan Steil's H.R. 7008, covers members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children, and bars buying new stocks rather than owning them. “The bill does not extend to the president or vice president,” the AP reported. In the House Rules Committee, a motion to allow a vote on Republican Rep. Warren Davidson's amendment extending the restrictions to the president, vice president, cabinet and judges was “Defeated: 4-8.”
Before the House vote, Republican leaders merged the bill with a voter photo ID requirement; “House GOP leadership inserted into it an unrelated requirement that voters present photo identification in federal elections,” The Washington Post reported, and Speaker Mike Johnson called the pairing “a very logical thing to do.” The White House budget office said, “The Administration strongly supports the passage of H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act,” endorsing the voter ID provision too. The House passed it 232-198 on July 22, 2026, with every Republican voting yes and 198 Democrats voting no. On September 30, 2026, a Senate motion to advance it failed 53-47, with every Democrat and both independents opposed (Trump Holds DHS Hostage for 40+ Days, Demanding a Voter Suppression Bill That Could Disenfranchise 21 Million Americans Before He Will Fund TSA). The White House said “Republicans and President Trump are UNITED behind the Stop Insider Trading Act” and blamed Democrats. Chuck Schumer said, “Their bill still allows Members of Congress and President Trump to own and sell stocks.” No source says Trump asked for the voter ID attachment.
What the record does not show matters as much. Nothing in the reporting shows Trump or the White House pressing Republicans to slow, weaken or kill the Congress-only ban; on that bill they urged passage. The documented pushback concerns covering the president. The context is Trump's own trading: he “disclosed in May that in the first quarter of this year he had made more than 3,600 buy and sell orders,” the AP reported in July 2026 (Trump's Q1 Disclosure Shows 3,700+ Stock Trades, Including Buys in Nvidia, Palantir, and Axon as His Administration Steered Billions in Business Their Way). Neither bill has become law.