Sen. Josh Hawley is pushing for a sweeping ban on individual stock trading that would apply to President Donald Trump, despite facing criticism from the White House months earlier for backing similar restrictions.
The Missouri Republican told NBC News on Tuesday he supports a uniform rule barring presidents, Supreme Court justices, and all federal officials from trading individual stocks. "By everybody, I mean everybody," Hawley said. "I'd start with Congress, but I'd be happy to extend it all across the board."
His comments come after NBC News reported that Trump or his investment managers executed more than 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter of this year, according to a financial disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Those trades involved major corporations with business before the Trump administration.
The latest remarks put Hawley back on a collision course with the president. In July, Trump attacked the senator on Truth Social for teaming with Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to advance a stock trading ban that included the president and vice president. "I don't think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED," Trump wrote, "because of the 'whims' of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!"
Hawley's compromise bill with Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan delayed implementation until the start of an official's next term, effectively shielding Trump from the restrictions during his current presidency. The measure advanced with Democratic support but has since stalled in the broader chamber.
After that public spat, Hawley said he and Trump cleared up a misunderstanding about the legislation. The senator claimed Trump believed the bill would force him to sell Mar-a-Lago and other assets. Both said they wanted a congressional stock trading ban enacted, and the White House press secretary acknowledged the president was "conceptually" supportive of preventing members of Congress from enriching themselves through their positions.
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance pushed back against the notion that Trump personally controls his trading activity. "He doesn't sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his like Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks," Vance told reporters. "He has independent wealth advisors who manage his money."
Vance stopped short of endorsing a presidential stock trading ban but emphasized support for restricting congressional trading. "All of us believe that nobody should be taking proprietary information gained from public service and buying and selling stocks," he said.
Hawley said he was uncertain whether 3,700 trades in three months represented a typical volume. He noted that he and his wife avoid individual stock ownership, keeping their savings and children's college funds in broad-based mutual funds. "I don't trade, I don't own individual stock, I'd love to make that the rule across the board," Hawley said.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Hawley's willingness to hold firm on a universal ban shows he's either genuinely committed to the principle or willing to absorb political heat, though the actual passage of such a law remains deeply uncertain."
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