Leavitt Slams Pelosi Over Trades As Trump Pushes Congressional Stock Bans
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tore into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her eyebrow-raising stock trades, calling her the reason a congressional stock trading ban is even being discussed.
Leavitt recited a list of trades made by Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, which she claimed surpassed those of Warren Buffett and every hedge fund on Wall Street.
“The president has spoken to Senator Hawley, who called him, and the president took that call,” Leavitt said. “As the president said in the Roosevelt Room yesterday, conceptually, he of course supports the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves.”
She didn’t hold back when naming names.
“And the reason that this idea—to put a ban on stock trading for members of Congress—is even a thing is because of Nancy Pelosi,” Leavitt said. “I mean, she is rightfully criticized because she makes, I think, $174,000 a year, yet she has a net worth of approximately $413 million.”
“In 2024, Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio—this was a fascinating statistic to me—grew 70% in one year, and her portfolio outperformed every single large hedge fund in that same year, and even more than doubled the returns of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.”
Leavitt said the president supports the public’s outrage.
“So I think the president stands with the American people on this. He doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process.”
“As for the mechanics of the legislation and how it will move forward,” she added, “the White House continues to be in discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill.”
This came after Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, found himself on the receiving end of a harsh social media post by President Donald Trump.
Hawley is sponsoring a bill to ban members of Congress from being able to trade individual stocks.
An amendment to the bill would have carved out an exemption to allow the president to engage in stock trading, but Hawley joined Senate Democrats in voting “no.”
That prompted Trump to blast Hawley on Truth Social, calling him a “second-tier Senator.”
Hawley described the situation as a misunderstanding, telling Fox News that the bill exempts President Trump and Vice President Vance. The language instead bans future presidents from trading stock.
Republicans are upping the pressure this week for a stock trading ban, especially after President Trump urged Congress to pass legislation on this issue.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced a discharge petition to compel a vote on the Roy and Magaziner bill. However, the leadership ultimately chose to advance Steil’s bill, named the Stop Insider Trading Act, through the committee.
Trump has urged members of Congress to pass Steil’s legislation “without delay.”
Meanwhile, one of the House’s most successful stock traders – retiring former Speaker Nancy Pelosi – recently claimed she hasn’t been serving in Congress for the money, even though her net worth has increased by a staggering amount during her decades on Capitol Hill.
During a forum at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, Pelosi noted that she was the highest-paid member of Congress while serving as Speaker of the House.
Despite asserting that she was not motivated by financial gain in her political career, her wealth has increased by at least 2,292% over her 37 years in Congress.
As of early 2026, Pelosi’s net worth is estimated to be $270 million, according to Quiver Quantitative.
In 2024, her stock portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 200%, leading to calls for reforms on stock trading rules for lawmakers. This performance also raised concerns regarding potential illegal insider trading on her part.
According to the 2024 Congress Trading Report by the financial data platform Unusual Whales, Nancy Pelosi’s investment portfolio increased by 70.9% from December 29, 2023, to December 30, 2024.
This growth significantly outperformed the S&P 500, which had a return of 24.9% during the same period. In fact, she outperformed many of the largest hedge funds in the world in 2024.
Trump Warns Iran of ‘Total Obliteration’ if They Try To Harm Him HH
President Donald Trump warned Iran that continued assassination threats made by leaders in Tehran would be met with the country getting “blown up” and “total obliteration.”
“Well, they shouldn’t be doing it but I’ve left notification,” Trump said. “Anything ever happens, we’re going to blow the whole — the whole country’s going to get blown up.”
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Biden-era Intelligence officials briefed Trump about the alleged threats against him during his presidential campaign in 2024. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said the plot was retaliation for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. in 2020, during Trump’s first administration.
Despite being briefed by his administration, Trump on Tuesday said President Biden “should have said something” on the matter, adding that presidents should defend each other on such matters.
“But I have very firm instructions,” Trump continued. “Anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”
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Trump also spoke about the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran in Geneva.
“What are you expecting from these Iran talks in Geneva?” a reporter asked Trump aboard Air Force One.
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“So, I’ll be involved in those talks indirectly, and they’ll be very important. We’ll see what can happen. Typically, Iran’s a very tough negotiator; they’re good negotiators — or bad negotiators. I would say they’re bad negotiators because we could have had a deal instead of sending the B2s to knock out their nuclear potential. We had to send the B2s. I hope they’re going to be more reasonable. They want to make a deal,” Trump said.
“Have you been told that a deal is next to impossible?” the reporter followed up.
Trump replied, “No. I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal. They want to make a deal.”
WATCH:
Trump previously said that he instructed officials to destroy Iran if they killed him.
The president said this after signing an executive order right after taking office that gave him all the tools he needed to talk to Iran’s government and put as much pressure on Tehran as possible.
“They haven’t done that and that would be a terrible thing for them to do,” Trump said at the time. “Not because of me — if they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I’ve left instructions, if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left. And, they shouldn’t be able to do it.”
Trump warned last week that the United States could send additional warships toward Iran if ongoing diplomatic negotiations fail to produce a deal, signaling that military pressure could increase as talks over Tehran’s nuclear program stall.
In remarks to Axios, Trump said the administration is considering deploying a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region in addition to the USS Abraham Lincoln and 9 additional warships already positioned near Iran, though he expressed hope that a diplomatic agreement can still be reached.
“Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” the president told Axios on Tuesday, a reference to the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites in June.
“Last time they didn’t believe I would do it. They overplayed their hand,” Trump added. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going.”
The president emphasized that the United States is seeking to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, halt the development of its ballistic missile program, and end support for militant proxy groups. Iranian officials have so far resisted expanding negotiations beyond nuclear-related issues.
He described the nuclear issue as a “matter of course” part of any negotiation, but also insisted that an agreement with Iran must also address Tehran’s ballistic missile stockpiles, per Axios.
Trump said the US “can make a great deal with Iran,” and Tehran “very much wants to make a deal.”
Trump’s comments came ahead of a planned visit to Washington, D.C. by Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to press for a tougher U.S. stance and broader terms for any Iran deal that would include constraints on Tehran’s missile capabilities and regional activities.
Before heading to DC, the Israeli leader previewed some of what he and Trump were going to discuss.
“I will present to the president our understanding of the principles of the negotiations (with Iran) – the essential principles that are important not only to Israel – but to everyone who wants peace and security in the Middle East,” Netanyahu told reporters, per the New York Post.
The administration has already bolstered its military presence in the Middle East, with multiple warships and aircraft deployed as a means of deterrence and leverage.
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