Trump Calls Out Pelosi For Stock Trading, Ignores Republicans With Better Returns, Questionable Trades

Donald Trump's State of the Union speech on Wednesday featured a call to ban congressional stock trading, including a negative call out to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

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While Pelosi is one of the most tracked members of Congress for stock and option trading due to strong performance and the size of the trade, several members of the Republican party in Congress outperformed her returns in 2025 and had questionable trades, something left out of Trump's comments on the topic.

Pelosi's Performance Not Top In 2025

Trump's callout against Pelosi during the State of the Union drew bipartisan support with members of both parties standing up.

"As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let's also make sure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information," Trump said.

Trump followed up the comment by calling out Pelosi directly and asking if she could stand up.

"Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay."

Trump probably doesn't regularly check the Benzinga Government Trades page or other congress trading trackers, but if he did he might be surprised to learn that it's members of the Republican party who were top gainers for their investment portfolios in 2025.

Data showed Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) as the top gainer in 2025 with a gain of 78.8%. Republicans made up five of the top nine places on the list. Pelosi ranked a distant 28

place with a gain of 20.1%. While Pelosi beat the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) gain of 16.6%, she trailed many other members of Congress, including Republicans.

A list of the top gainers from Quiver Quantitative showed Rep. Tim Moore (R-N.C.) as the top performer in 2025 with a gain of 52%. That list saw seven of the top 10 gainers in 2025 belonging to the Republican party, including the top four overall.

Pelosi ranked further down the list with a gain of 18%, narrowly beating the S&P 500.

Questionable Trades: Timing and Committees

Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi have been accused of making questionably times, with the buying of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock ahead of the CHIPS Act the trade that brought increased attention.

The former Speaker of the House later disclosed selling the Nvidia shares at a loss, missing out on huge profits years later.

Pelosi is not the only one with questionably timed trades.

There have been members of Congress from both parties who bought oil and defense stocks shortly before or shortly after military action in several countries over the past two years.

With the U.S. now having an interest in Venezuelan oil, elected officials like Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) could benefit from owning shares of Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) stock, a position that could influence their decisions. Mullin serves on the Committee on Armed Services.

Mullin, who is a close ally of Trump, also owns shares of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX), a defense company that could benefit from Trump's military actions in territories around the world.

Then there's Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.), who serves on the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development, and recently sold between $1 million and $5 million in shares of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), one of the largest banking stocks.

Trump ally and Congressman Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) has been buying up Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which comes as he serves on the Committee on Financial Services and on the Digital Assets subcommittee. As a close ally of Trump and a member of the Digital Assets committee, the purchase of Bitcoin by Donalds could spark concerns from investors and/or mark a potential good entry point that deserves monitoring.

Disclosures from Rep. Robert Bresnahan (R-Pa.) previously suggested the congressman or his financial advisor was day trading with options purchased in ETFs that tracks some of the biggest market indexes and had expiration dates within days of the purchase date.

Late Disclosures Violate STOCK Act

Members of both political parties have reported stock trades late, violating the STOCK Act, which requires disclosures within 45 days of the transactions.

Congresswoman Sheri Biggs (R-S.C.) disclosed trades made in March 2025 in October 2025, months after the deadline. Among the trades made was the buying of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT), which came a week before pro-crypto legislation was passed.

Mullin was also flagged by Benzinga for trades disclosed two or more years after they were made. Among the late disclosed trades was a gainer of over 100%.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) also disclosed stock transactions late, including a trade of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), which is up significantly since the time the trade was made.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), an ally of Trump, bought hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin in 2025 and some of the disclosures came after the 45-day window for the STOCK Act deadline. One of the late trades came shortly after Trump's executive order for the U.S. to be a leader in the digital assets and another late trade was just ahead of Trump announcing a "strategic Bitcoin reserve."

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) also potentially violated the STOCK Act in 2025 with several stocks disclosed months later, including a purchase of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) while she sat on the Senate Banking committee.

What's Next for Congress Trading

Proposals to ban Congress trading have popped up in recent years, including Sen. Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act, or PELOSI Act, based on the first letter of each of the main words.

A bill to ban Congress trading is currently stuck without enough support for a full vote, according to a report from Politico.

While Trump calls for a ban on stock trading, the Republican majority of Congress is not in full support of the measure. Based on some of the names listed above, there could be reasons why.

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