President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at Sen. Josh Hawley over the senator’s vote for a bill that would prevent members of Congress — and future presidential administrations — from buying, selling or owning individual stocks.
The Truth Social tirade came just hours after Trump said earlier Wednesday he likes the bill “conceptually.”
“I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats,” Trump posted Wednesday evening. “I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”
In an 8-7 vote on Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Hawley was the only Republican to join Democrats in advancing the legislation to the full Senate. In a Truth Social post minutes after the vote, Trump said Hawley was a “pawn” being used by Democrats to target his administration, apparently for the inclusion of sitting presidents in the ban.
“I don’t read too much into it,” Hawley told reporters outside the Senate floor. He added that he hopes to talk with Trump “soon” to smooth out the disagreement.
“Oh, I love the president, and he’s not covered by the bill, but we really want to work with him because we want to see this bill passed and signed,” Hawley said. “So if there’s further changes he wants to make, I’m happy to make them.”
The HONEST Act, originally called the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from trading or holding individual stocks. The bill was originally named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been a prolific stock trader during her tenure in Congress and has faced allegations of insider trading.
In a statement Wednesday, Pelosi voiced in support of the act and its name change.
Hawley also noted on Wednesday that the legislation would bar the next president and vice president from holding or trading individual stocks while in office, meaning the legislation wouldn’t affect Trump.
But that didn’t stop the president from lashing out at Hawley for his show of bipartisanship.
“The information was inappropriately released just minutes before the Vote — Very much like SABOTAGE! The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to “Target” me for a long period of time, and they’re using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them,” Trump continued on Truth Social.
In response to being called a pawn, Hawley told reporters he would “never be a part of an attack” against Trump or his administration, and has plans to speak with the president soon.
“We’ll tackle any issue with time. But obviously we’ve got to get the president,” Hawley told reporters. “So we got to get to a place where he feels good.”
The bill ultimately advanced out of the committee after nearly an hour of heated debate between members.
Sen. Rick Scott, who has accumulated millions of dollars stock trading during his time in office, according to public filings, said that while he agrees members of Congress shouldn’t be trading stock, “this idea that we’re going to attack people because they make money is wrong — is absolutely wrong.”
“He made a reference to billionaires,” Scott said of Hawley. “I don’t know when in this country it became a negative to make money. But somehow, if you’ve made money, you’re supposedly — I think Senator Hawley suggests — you shouldn’t be serving, because you might trade stocks.”
It’s unclear whether the bill will reach the Senate floor for a vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday. It is unlikely the GOP majority would put the bill on the floor considering Hawley was its only Republican supporter.