MW Elizabeth Warren presses Bessent for answers after his remarks at private Wall Street event

By Greg Robb

Massachusetts Democrat says Bessent's participation at the event highlights a broader concern that President Trump's 'opaque decision-making' could foster insider trading

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Friday pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to explain why he gave "inside information" on President Donald Trump's tariff plans to Wall Street insiders and not the broader public.

Speaking at a closed-door, invitation-only event hosted by JPMorgan Chase $(JPM)$ on Tuesday, Bessent said that the tariff standoff between China and the U.S. would soon de-escalate. When reports of his remarks leaked to the press, it caused stocks to rocket higher. Trump then spoke to reporters, essentially confirming Bessent's remarks.

In the letter to Bessent on Friday, Warren said she was concerned that Bessent provided "a room full of wealthy investors and Wall Street executives exclusive, advance tips about the Administration's trade policy, potentially creating the opportunity for insider trading or other financial profiteering by well-connected friends of the Administration."

Warren noted that Charlie Gasparino, a reporter at Fox Business Network, tweeted on Thursday that the Trump administration was alerting Wall Street executives that a trade deal with India was nearing completion.

Warren wrote that Trump's "opaque decision-making on tariffs and frequent, seemingly random changes of course" seem tailor-made for investors who are well connected to the administration to get information before the public does.

They can then use this inside information to time the market, she said. Warren asked for a response from the Treasury secretary by May 8.

The Treasury Department declined to comment.

Prior to Bessent's talk at the JPMorgan event, Senate Democrats were already expressing concern that Trump allies might have gotten advance notice about presidential decisions.

On April 11, six Democrats including Warren and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting that he investigate whether Trump, any member of his cabinet or any of his allies engaged in insider trading ahead of the unexpected 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs.

Democrats have put forward no evidence of illegal or unethical trading on the part of the president or any of his associates.

But the events have sparked a broader discussion over trading laws and whether they're equipped to prevent White House officials and other associates of a president from profiting from inside knowledge.

The president and the vice president are subject to the same insider-trading prohibitions as everyone else.

Donna Nagy, an expert on insider-trading laws at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said that knowledge of the tariff pause could be considered material nonpublic information.

In Bessent's case, experts said he didn't violate any rules and that the customs and conventions around such private talks are murky.

In the past, Treasury officials often attempted to make sure that events were open to the press to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a watchdog group, said Bessent could have found "any number of forums where he could have sent the exact same signal to markets and done so without benefiting the clients of any specific bank."

He said the Treasury Department should adopt rules similar to those adhered to by the Federal Reserve, which sends out advance notice of public speeches by the central bank chair and its governors and provides a livestream of those events.

-Greg Robb

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April 25, 2025 12:21 ET (16:21 GMT)

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