While many stockholders endured heavy losses after last week’s massive market downturn, which drained $9 trillion from American accounts, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene showed a deft touch, purchasing a number of badly performing stocks that rebounded on Wednesday following the news that President Trump was pausing his reciprocal tariffs.
Greene, among the president’s most loyal supporters, scooped up a number of stocks as they were being dumped amid the panic that enveloped Wall Street following the implementation of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
Lululemon, Dell Computers, Amazon, the parent company of Restoration Hardware, were among the companies Greene bought stock in even though some had dropped as much as 40 percent on average last week.
Perhaps Greene was just showing her continued support for the president and his tariffs policy, which she enthusiastically supports.
“Tariffs are a powerful proven source of leverage to protect our national interests,” she posted on X earlier this year, adding, “We will win this trade war.”
But some Democrats are wondering whether Greene may have acted on some inside knowledge when she purchased the cratering stocks.
“What I want to know, what we want to know, is what did Marjorie Taylor Greene know before that announcement (that Trump would be pausing the tariffs) happened and what stocks did she and her family trade leading up to that announcement,” California Rep. Robert Garcia told reporters on Thursday.
Restoration Hardware proved to be Greene’s shrewdest purchase, jumping more than a third since Greene bought it at Friday’s close. Dell has seen a 9 percent increase since Greene bought the stock last week after it had lost more than half its value.
Texas Democratic Representative Gregorio Casar doubled down for the Dems, “We need an investigation into insider trading by people like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. We need an investigation into whether any K Street lobbyists or other big firms were tipped off by Donald Trump’s actions.”
But the schizophrenic market was back on Thursday, erasing virtually all of the previous day’s gains with the S&P 500 down 3.5 percent. Restoration Hardware, for example, dipped about 10 percent.
It’s not known how many stocks she purchased; a required three-page financial holdings document doesn’t disclose exactly how much she paid for the stocks, either, only ranges and dates.
Greene’s wheeling and dealing was much-discussed on social media, with her supporters pointing out that, hours before withdrawing most of the tariffs, President Trump encouraged his supporters to play the markets, writing on Truth Social, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
“Maybe she knew to trust Trump when he said to buy,” one supporter posted on X, referencing Garcia’s comments. “Maybe if you did not have TDS you’d be rich too. Instead you’re a loser doing loser investigations instead of focusing on doing the bidding of the American people.”
But many of Greene’s purchases were made before Trump’s pronouncement.
Some users encouraged Garcia to keep probing.
Keep asking the questions @RepRobertGarcia and then act,” wrote one. “Otherwise the US will fall hook, line and sinker under #Trump Law.”
And one user pointed out the absurdity of members of Congress trading on the market.
“No person in Congress or Senate should be allowed to trade and unfortunately for their family members them too!” he declared.
Many of Greene’s supporters brought up former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who made a number of controversial, well-timed stock trades during her tenure. Their point being, apparently, that if Democrats get to make money off inside information, so should Republicans.
Members of both parties have proposed legislation banning members from stock trading because of the apparent conflict of interest in owning shares of companies they can heavily influence with positions they can take in Congress. But none of the proposed bills have been passed.
A representative for Greene called the demand an investigation, “utterly absurd.”
