Elizabeth Warren Grills Scott Bessent on Trump’s Suspicious Stock Trades

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) pressed Treasury chief Scott Bessent on suspicious stock trades made by President Donald Trump during a tense back-and-forth on Wednesday.

As Bessent faced the Senate Appropriations Committee, Warren began by explaining to Bessent that there’s at least one thing they can agree on, that both support a stock trading ban among members of Congress.

Warren then rounded on Trump’s personal trades, including stocks impacted by some of his policies, including Nvidia and Lockheed Martin.

After listing some of the thousands of trades made by Trump that totaled more than a quarter of a billion dollars in 2026, Warren asked Bessent, “Do you also agree that it’s a conflict of interest for President Trump to trade stocks?”

“Couple of things, Senator,” Bessent replied. “One, President Trump is not sitting in the Oval Office engaging in a high-frequency trading strategy. Clearly, he had an outside manager who was doing that. And so I think it’s incumbent upon both houses of Congress to get their house in order before you move to the administrative branch.”

“Before?” Warren shot back. “You think it’s OK for the president to do this?”

Bessent dodged the question by repeatedly saying Warren and members of Congress must “get your own house in order.”

“How about we get the White House in order at the same time?” Warren asked as the exchange grew increasingly more testy.

At one point, Bessent blurted out, “Please lead by example.”

Warren fired back, “I would like to see the president of the United States lead by example.”

As Bessent continued to bob and weave through her line of questioning, a frustrated Warren concluded by saying, “We need stronger anti-corruption rules and conflict-of-interest rules in Washington for everyone. And that includes the president and it includes Congress. And instead of draining the swamp, what Donald Trump is doing is he is enriching himself by taking advantage of his position. That is not public service. He’s the one who should lead by example.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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