President Donald Trump says he would sign legislation to ban congressional stock trading if it reached his desk.
The president told Time Magazine in an interview published Friday, “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.”
Trump added he would “absolutely” sign it when asked.
Per The Hill, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband has “made significant money off of stock trades.” She previously came out in opposition of banning members of Congress from trading stocks.
Congressional Republican have come under fire recently as allegations have suggested Trump manipulated the market to benefit allies.
In January, a group of lawmakers reintroduced bipartisan legislation to ban stock trading among members of Congress.
Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-Miss.), Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), along with 43 other lawmakers, reintroduced the “Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act.”
It would “effectively ban Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from trading individual stocks,” per the press release.
Additionally, the “TRUST in Congress Act” would “require lawmakers and their immediate family to either divest from individual stock holdings or move their investments into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress, ensuring they cannot profit off the nonpublic information provided to lawmakers.”
“Just as we prevent athletes from betting on games in which they can have a direct impact on the outcome or inside information about the team’s performance, it is common sense to ban lawmakers from investing in stocks,” Cleaver said.
He continued: “At a time when the American people’s faith in our democratic institutions is at an all-time low, lawmakers must take steps to demonstrate they are committed to serving the public, not their personal stock portfolios. That’s why I’m proud to be a cosponsor of the bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act.”
Legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stock has never passed both chambers of Congress.
