IThis is a few volatile days for the stock market since the announcement of President Donald Trump, on April 2, of basic tariffs of 10% on all imported goods, as well as additional import taxes in 60 countries. On April 9, Trump took a break from most of his prices for three months, while keeping the basic line by 10% in place and considerably increasing the tax on imports from China.
The stock market immediately jumped after Trump announced his “90 -day break”. The S&P 500 took more than 9% on Wednesday afternoon, although Thursday saw a return to the extreme volatility while the DOW dropped 1,900 points and the S&P 500 fell by 5%.
A few hours before announcing the break, because the actions were still in negative territory on an intensifying trade war, Trump published messages on his social media platform, Truth Social, which seemed to be addressed to investors. “It’s time to buy !!!” The president wrote, signed with his initials “DJT”, which also serve as a symbol on the stock market for his business, Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. It should be noted that Trump signed the post with his initials – something he doesn’t always do. Trump Media and Technology Group saw his shares rise almost 22% after the announcement of the reversal of prices on Wednesday and they increased by 5% of pre-commercial negotiations early Thursday morning.
“Be cool!” Everything will work well. The United States will be larger and better than ever! ” Trump had declared in another article when the markets opened on Wednesday morning, just a few hours before he published his decision to suspend his prices for 90 days.
Legislators have made accusations of “initiate offense”
Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, called Trump’s “good time to buy” on Wednesday, reporting it as potential proof of initiate or stock market manipulation.
“Family coins and all the others are not beyond negotiation or enrichment of initiates. I hope to discover it soon,” Schiff told Time. (Trump previously received criticism on the launch of his pieces even Trump in January.)
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States, market manipulation is when “someone artificially affects the supply or demand for guarantee”, which may include the spread of false information or rigging, prices or transactions to give the impression that there is more demand.
The initiate’s offense, on the other hand, is described as “the purchase or sale of a guarantee, in violation of a trustee obligation or another relationship of trust and confidence, on the basis of material and non -public information on security”. A classic example of this would be if someone has experienced information that would change a volatile stock market than their family or close friends, so that they can sell or buy shares in the hope of carrying out a profit.
Schiff and other Democrats in the Congress maintain that the Trump post calendar raises “legal and ethical concerns” and that Trump should clearly know who knew his decision to revers Before He announced it, and if one of these people informs the others of Trump’s decision. When he was asked for the moment of his decision to break most of the prices, and when he had settled on this subject, Trump told the oval office on Wednesday that he had been considering “for some time”. He explained: “I wouldn’t say this morning. In the past few days, I thought about it … I think it probably met early this morning. ”
A letter sent to the chief of staff of Trump’s White House, Susie Wiles and Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US government’s ethics office on Thursday by Schiff and Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, responded to a certain number of concerns. They called for an examination of “all communications between employees of the White House branch agency and executive agencies … and external parties, including financial institutions, brokers, dealers … which may have included non -public information.” As a senator, Schiff can investigate these affirmations, but does not have the power to assign that a congress committee could use in such an investigation.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, has also spoken, calling for all members of the Congress to disclose the actions they had bought in the past 24 hours. “I heard interesting chatter on the ground,” she wrote on X Wednesday evening. “The deadline for disclosure is May 15. We are about to learn a few things. It is time to prohibit the negotiation of initiates in the congress. ”
In Schiff’s letter of investigation, he distinguishes Elon Musk, who played a very publicized role in the Trump administration through the Ministry of Government Effectiveness (DOGE).
“”[Stock] In Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, increased by 18% immediately after the president’s announcement to suspend most of the prices, to which Mr. Musk had opposed publicly, “wrote Schiff.
Meanwhile, the chief of the Hakeem Jeffries House, a New York Democrat, said on Thursday that the Democrats in the Chamber would launch investigations on “manipulation of possible actions”.
What do the experts say about the accumulated “crime of initiate” to Trump?
Karen Woody, a law professor at the Washington and the Lee School of Law, said that a survey that the president or other members of his circle were engaged in initiates or other illegal financial transactions is “valid”.
“It is not a witch hunt, where it seems to be allegations that have come out of the air. This is a fairly clear example of what we would say to be a real market manipulation potential by someone who has the capacity to move the markets,” explains Woody.
As a rule, the next steps, according to Woody, would be to invest it to investigate these accusations, “since [the SEC] is sort of the market guard dog. »»
However, Adam Pritchard, professor of law at the University of Michigan, says that the social post of Trump’s truth himself was “quite clearly not the offense of initiate”, unless there was evidence that Trump himself exchanged or provided more detailed information to others in private.
“If he [the President] said things, you know, in Donald [Trump] JR, then Donald Jr. will discuss these things, when he was the only one to have heard of it, so we have a problem, right? he said. [Trump] Said things at a press conference or on social networks, then, no, it is not the trading of initiates. »»
The law of initiates may make the violations of these difficult to identify, explains Kevin Douglas, assistant professor of law at Michigan State University, who notes that there are no federal laws which explicitly prohibit the initiate trade and current case law do not provide a roadmap.
“The law on actions, which prohibits the president and federal employees from negotiating non-public information, defines non-public information in a manner which maintains the fatally ambiguous law,” said Douglas in a statement sent by e-mail, stressing how the lack of clear definition can complicate questions.
Woody notes that the situation around Trump’s price break is particularly troubled, because the same key players are involved in all areas.
“This is an example where you have the creators of the crisis, then those who are able to throw fuel on the fire or try to turn everything off, being the same people,” explains Woody. “These [Trump] Tariff policies are what has created this market crash. And then [with] the shot – not even the pen, but [Trump’s social media post]- You can solve this problem. Of course, the people who know it are able to take a significant advantage. »»
