President Trump's flurry of first-quarter stock trades, totaling at least $220 million, included companies that were seemingly on the president's enemies list, such as Netflix, JPMorgan, and Disney. According to an analysis from Yahoo! Finance, the president's stock trades in these companies were valued at around $9 million, even as Trump slammed them in public.
Netflix Trades Amid Threats
In February, Trump demanded that Netflix fire board member and former Obama administration official Susan Rice or 'pay the consequences.' Days before that post, Trump's account purchased at least $250,000 in Netflix stock. Combined with other trades in the streamer, the total value reached at least $1.9 million.
Disney and JPMorgan Also Targeted
Disney has long been a Trump target. Administration regulators are conducting a controversial review of the company's broadcast station licenses over diversity concerns, and the president has clashed with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show airs on Disney-owned ABC. Despite this, Trump made up to $6 million worth of trades in Disney shares in early 2026. A similar pattern occurred with JPMorgan. In January, the president sued the bank for $5 billion, alleging he had been wrongly 'debanked' after his supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Yet, Trump's accounts made 11 transactions in the bank's stock, valued between $500,000 and $1.2 million, during the same period.
White House Response
The White House deferred questions to the Trump Organization, which manages the president's finances. A spokesperson stated that President Trump's investment holdings are maintained in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions, with no involvement from the president, his family, or his company. The structure was designed to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
Critics remain skeptical, arguing that Trump has leveraged his position to make thousands of trades per quarter, sometimes in companies he has direct ties to. Mother Jones found that Trump has publicly praised companies like Apple and Thermo Fisher on the same day his accounts bought stock in them.
Broader Ethics Concerns
Meghan Faulkner, a spokesperson for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), commented, 'When we say Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in American history, it's because of conduct like this. It could not be clearer that he views the presidency as a get-rich-quick scheme.'
Trump's first-quarter trades also included defense stocks in companies implicated in the Iran war and up to $6 million in Nvidia shares, shortly after the White House allowed the chipmaker to sell advanced equipment to China. His portfolio also includes Intel, in which the administration took a government stake last year.
Richard Painter, chief White House ethics adviser under George W. Bush, told The Associated Press, 'If he were defense secretary, he would be committing a crime. Technically he can do this, but it is a fundamental breach of trust.'
Of the 17 executives who accompanied Trump on his recent trip to China, 15 led companies in which Trump bought stock during early 2026, according to a New York Times analysis. Previous presidents have sold stocks, placed assets in blind trusts, or invested in diversified mutual funds to avoid conflicts.
Before taking office, Trump transferred his assets to a trust managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr. He has pushed the boundaries of financial ethics like no modern president, blurring lines between his family business, political goals, and official duties.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration reached a settlement resolving Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, creating a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund benefiting his allies, while the IRS was barred from pursuing claims against Trump, his family, or his businesses. Separately, Trump has earned hundreds of millions of dollars, much from untraceable sources, through his family's crypto ventures, which have pursued business deals in the Middle East with leaders negotiating with the White House.
