Longtime Trump foe Letitia James reviewing possible insider trading over president’s tariff pause
New York Attorney General Letitia James is in the preliminary stages of looking into whether President Donald Trump’s recent reciprocal tariff pause included insider trading violations, Fox News Digital confirmed.
James, who is a longtime political foe of Trump’s, is only in the preliminary stages of investigating whether Trump or people close to him may have had advance knowledge of a tariff decision that caused stock markets to surge. The attorney general’s office confirmed the preliminary review of the matter to Fox News Digital Wednesday morning.
Trump’s customized, reciprocal tariffs on nations that historically have installed trade barriers on U.S. goods took effect April 9.
Trump, ahead of pausing the reciprocal tariffs, posted to Truth Social, “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” and “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”
He announced a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs later that day in a surprise move that helped push U.S. markets sharply higher.
China, however, was not part of the tariff pause and was instead hit with a higher 125% tariff after retaliating with its own additional tariffs against the U.S., and the 10% baseline tariff leveled on nations earlier in April was kept in place.
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The DOW went up 7.9%, the S&P 500 rose 9.5% and the Nasdaq jumped 12.2% the same day.
Some lawmakers have raised concerns about possible insider trading. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate.
“It’s entirely appropriate to have an investigation to make sure that Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s family, Donald Trump’s inner circle, didn’t get advance information and trade on that information,” Warren said.
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote a letter Thursday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as well as Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, calling for an investigation into potential insider trading.
The White House hit back in comments provided to Fox Digital amid allegations of insider trading that Democrats were “playing partisan games.”
“It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in comment to Fox Digital Thursday. “Democrats railed against China’s cheating for decades, and now they’re playing partisan games instead of celebrating President Trump’s decisive action yesterday to finally corner China,”
James, a former city council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York attorney general during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected, she would aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump, vowing to expose the “con man” following her win that year.
James reported in November 2024 that her office took on nearly 100 legal challenges against Trump during his first administration and added after his second presidential win last year that she would continue challenging him in the courts to “defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.”
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“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said following Trump’s election win in November 2024. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.”
Under the 1921 Martin Act, the New York attorney general has broad authority to investigate possible securities fraud.
The law allows the office to subpoena witnesses, demand documents, and bring civil or criminal cases without proving intent to defraud.