Morning Joe hosts criticize Trump's high volume of stock trades
Hosts question the consistency of the President's trading activity with his 'drain the swamp' campaign promise
Quick Look
Morning Joe hosts criticized President Donald Trump for executing approximately 28,700 stock trades since his January 2025 inauguration, surpassing the combined total of all 535 members of Congress, and questioned the optics amid his 'drain the swamp' rhetoric.
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Why It Matters
President Trump has faced scrutiny over his financial disclosures and trading activity while in office. He maintains that blind accounts manage his assets without his direct input.
The hosts of Morning Joe expressed disbelief Wednesday over a report that President Donald Trump has made more stock trades than all members of Congress combined.
Trump, or his money managers, executed roughly 28,700 trades between his January 2025 inauguration and June, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. By comparison, the 535 members of Congress disclosed about 22,000 transactions during the same period.
Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist and other panelists on the MS NOW morning show questioned how this report chimed with Trump’s long-running promise to “drain the swamp.”
“The guy that constantly attacked Nancy Pelosi for her husband — her husband — making stock trades, this guy has made more stock trades than every member of Congress combined?” Scarborough said. “That’s not draining the swamp?”
“I was doing some math here,” Jonathan Lemire said. “It’s 1,600 a month. It works out to nearly 60 stock trades a day — every day — since he’s taken office.”
John Heilemann replied: “That’s more stock trades than I’ve made in my life.”
“And his family has benefited, and he’s made more than $2 billion in this term since he arrived a year-and-a-half ago,” Geist added.
Geist appeared to be referring to Trump’s annual financial disclosure report, released earlier this summer, which showed reported revenue from his personal ventures and businesses rising from $622 million in 2024 to $2.2 billion in 2025. Much of that windfall came from cryptocurrency-related businesses.
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
Trump has insisted that he does not personally manage his expanding personal fortune, saying financial advisers handle those decisions.
“I don’t even speak to them,” he told reporters in July. “I think it’s called the blind account, but they basically, they take it, and I purposely, I never speak to any of the people that run the money.”
“You know why I’m profiting?” he added. “Because the stock market’s going up, everybody’s profiting.”
The overwhelming majority of Americans believe the U.S. government and its political leaders are corrupt, according to a June Gallup survey.
Elsewhere in the Morning Joe segment, the hosts noted that Trump has backed a ban on stock trading by members of Congress, which House Republicans passed earlier this summer. The measure, however, does not bar the president from engaging in trading.
“The legislation does not apply to the president,” Brzezinski said. Scarborough added: “Of course it doesn’t.”
Scarborough added that Trump’s trading activity and reported earnings could become a political liability for Republicans in the midterm elections, particularly as many Americans are struggling with the ongoing high cost-of-living.
“You team that up…with the fact that Americans are struggling to pay for gas, for diesel, for groceries, for rent, for health care,” he said. “Boy, that becomes a toxic mix for voters.”
Open Questions
- Will the White House provide a formal response to the Bloomberg report?
- Will this report influence future legislative efforts regarding executive branch trading?
