President Donald Trump put Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on blast Wednesday over a bill the latter has proposed that would ban stock trading by members of Congress as well as presidents and vice presidents.
The ban doesn’t apply to elected officials in this term, meaning Trump, as a second-term president, wouldn’t be affected. Nevertheless, the president was not mollified.
“I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats,” Trump wrote 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!”
Hawley had broken with Republicans on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, allowing the measure to advance in an 8–7 vote, with all Democrats in favor.
The legislation passed by the committee didn’t include an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), that called for a report on the trades of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Pelosi has come under fire for the conspicuously prescient investments of her husband, and the bill’s original title—Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act—was a nod to the controversy. Trump seemed incensed about the amendment not making it into the bill.
“Why would one ‘Republican,’ Senator Josh Hawley from the Great State of Missouri, join with all of the Democrats to block a Review, sponsored by Senator Rick Scott, and with the support of almost all other Republicans, of Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Trading over the last 25 years,” Trump wrote.
Hawley, who has been a staunch Trump ally, reacted with calm to the harsh words. “Listen, I want the president to sign the bill, so I’m happy to do whatever it would take to get him to say, ‘Yes, this is good,’” Hawley told reporters.
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