Trump's deputy chief of staff unloaded Trump Media stock the day before tariff announcement
Dan Scavino had months to sell off up to $5 million worth of Trump Media stock after he joined President Donald Trump's administration as a deputy chief of staff in January.
But the top Trump advisor picked April 1, the day before Trump announced sweeping tariffs, to make the sale, according to disclosure reports obtained by USA TODAY.
After markets closed on April 2, Trump announced tariffs on imports from countries worldwide. Markets plunged on the news, dropping 12% by April 9, when Trump paused the tariffs. Trump Media stock, too, fell 11%.
The disclosure filings also show that Sergio Gor, Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, sold Trump Media securities valued between $15,001 and $50,000 on March 27, just days before the tariffs were announced.
In response to USA TODAY's questions about the timing of the divestments, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said, 'White House senior staff, including Deputy Chief of Staff Scavino and PPO Director Gor, fully comply with the executive branch ethics rules, attending required ethics briefings and complying with conflict of interest and financial reporting obligations.'
After Trump's announcement on what he called "Liberation Day," there was a widespread market sell-off that lasted until April 9, when the tariffs were paused. Since then, the markets have rallied, recouping those losses and hitting record highs. However, Trump Media stock is still down from its April 1 price of $20.26 per share. The stock closed at $19.25 a share on July 8.
The 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK, Act prohibits officials in the federal government and Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information. Officials are required to disclose their trading activity if they buy or sell securities worth more than $1,000.
More: Trump brought in $57 million from crypto venture, millions from sneakers and bibles
'Any stock trades by senior White House staff in the time period immediately preceding the Liberation Day announcement have to be viewed with suspicion,' said Virginia Canter, chief counsel at State Democracy Defenders Action, a group co-founded by former Obama ethics official Norman Eisen.
'The facts and circumstances surrounding the trades will determine if an investigation for insider trading is merited,' said Canter, a former White House Associate Counsel to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
USA TODAY found no evidence that Scavino or Gor had beforehand knowledge of the tariff announcement. But ethics experts say that when trades are placed in proximity to a major news event from the White House, they raise ethical questions as well as concerns of wrongdoing.
"White House officials are supposed to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, but owning or selling shares in the sitting president's media company does just the opposite," said Cynthia Brown, Senior Ethics Counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a progressive watchdog nonprofit.
Typically, a well-timed trade allows an individual to cut losses and reinvest the proceeds in less risky investments.
More: Stocks close higher despite go-slow Fed, poor Prime Day showing
Ethics experts have long advocated for stricter rules around stock trading by government officials, including requirements to place holdings in blind trusts or allowing officials to only hold highly diversified index funds.
Because of their positions, officials are constantly privy to nonpublic information, but experts say it's difficult to prove whether that knowledge informs their trading moves.
An Office of Government Ethics spokesman said the office cannot comment specifically on transactions by Scavino, Gor, or other officials.
'OGE publishes ethics disclosures, associated documents, and oversight correspondence to its website as soon as practicable,' said Patrick Shepherd, the spokesman.
With the divestments by Scavino and Gor, three senior Trump administration officials have divested from the president's social media company just before the tariff announcement triggered a broader stock market selloff.
Attorney General Pam Bondi previously disclosed an up to $5 million divestment in Trump Media on April 2. The tariff announcement came after the markets closed that day.
ProPublica first reported the divestiture in May. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment from multiple media outlets at the time.
In Bondi's case, she was obligated to sell her stake within 90 days of her Senate confirmation, according to the terms of her ethics agreement with the Office of Government Ethics.
The financial disclosures by these officials also confirmed that the president brought in people to his administration who worked for his publicly listed company. For example, Scavino worked as a consultant for the company from 2021 through January 2025, receiving $860,000 in consulting fees, his financial disclosures show.
More: A court just canceled 'click to cancel.' How the ruling affects you.
'These disclosures show that Trump's senior advisors' investments are tied into their boss's media company,' said Brown, ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
'While that may not be prohibited by law by itself, when coupled with the extent to which Trump's media outlets are being integrated into the Administration's agenda, it begs the question of whether this is another mechanism for the President and his advisors to financially benefit personally from their government agenda,' Brown said.
The President himself has billions in the equity market through his cryptocurrency ventures and social media company, Truth Social. Bloomberg News reported in May that the President's net worth has more than doubled to about $5.4 billion since his re-election.
His recent financial disclosure revealed that he is earning millions from his crypto ventures and royalties from the sales of Bibles and watches.
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