A CNN investigation found that President Donald Trump promoted more than 20 companies on his Truth Social account days after buying stock in those firms, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest while he holds the nation’s highest office.
The investigation identified at least 44 stock purchases of 21 different companies within a week before Trump posted complimentary Truth Social messages about the firms, their executives, or their products. In some cases, Trump announced government actions that could benefit the companies he had recently invested in.
On April 15, 2025, Trump posted to his nine million Truth Social followers that Nvidia would receive expedited government permits for AI supercomputer manufacturing in the United States. Days earlier, he had purchased between $200,000 and $500,000 of the company’s stock, according to CNN’s analysis of his financial disclosure records.
Similarly, on July 24, 2025, Trump posted that he wanted Elon Musk’s companies to “THRIVE,” deescalating a public feud. The post came the day after Trump made one of his largest individual Tesla purchases of the year, buying between $500,000 and $1 million in stock. On August 4, 2025, Trump praised American Eagle Outfitters in a Truth Social post, four days after purchasing between $15,000 and $50,000 in the retailer’s stock.
How Trump’s Account Structure Differs From Predecessors
Unlike all recent presidents, Trump has not placed his assets in a blind trust. Instead, his holdings are managed through discretionary accounts by outside financial advisers, meaning he can know which stocks he owns while technically not directing individual trades. Trump’s administration said his financial managers have “zero control” over his stock picks and that Trump himself has no role in selecting investments.
The White House strongly denied that Trump uses his office for financial gain. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, adding that “there are no conflicts of interest.”
However, government ethics experts argue that the discretionary account structure does not adequately address conflict-of-interest concerns. Dan Greenberg, a senior legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who served as a Labor Department policy adviser during Trump’s first term, called the arrangement “an ethics disaster.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, interim vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, said Trump’s combination of heavy social media posting and high-volume stock trading is “a case study in presidential conflicts of interest.” Hedtler-Gaudette argued that even without active direction of trades, “the appearance of impropriety” leads to “a slow chipping away” of public trust in elected officials.
Previous presidents dating back at least five decades placed individual stocks and businesses in blind trusts, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Former President Jimmy Carter even voluntarily placed his peanut farm in a blind trust. Gary Kalman, executive director of Transparency International US, noted that “the fact that we have exempted the one person who can’t actually recuse themselves from a conflict of interest should be a huge red flag for people.”
Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, released in June 2026, revealed more than 21,000 financial transactions. While the vast majority of his trades were not followed by relevant Truth Social posts, CNN’s analysis used artificial intelligence to compare his posts with his stock trades, then manually reviewed hundreds of flagged posts to confirm relevance.
Trump has publicly supported banning congressional stock trading but opposed extending such restrictions to the president. When GOP Senator Josh Hawley joined Democrats to support a bill banning both congressional and presidential stock trading, Trump lashed out, writing that “real Republicans” would not want to see their president “TARGETED” over stock trading rules.
Sources
- CNN — Trump promoted more than 20 companies on Truth Social days after buying their stocks; investigation found 44 purchases of 21 companies within a week of complimentary posts; specific examples of Nvidia, Tesla, and American Eagle trades and posts
- White House spokesperson Anna Kelly — Statement denying Trump uses office for financial gain and asserting no conflicts of interest
- Dan Greenberg, Cato Institute — Called Trump’s financial arrangement “an ethics disaster”
- Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Project on Government Oversight — Called Trump’s trading and posting pattern “a case study in presidential conflicts of interest”
- Gary Kalman, Transparency International US — Noted exemption of president from conflict-of-interest rules as a major concern
- Brennan Center for Justice — Documented that previous presidents dating back five decades placed assets in blind trusts
