Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
A newly released government ethics filing has ignited intense controversy in Washington after revealing that a brokerage account held in the name of President Donald Trump executed thousands of trades during the height of the U.S.-Iran conflict, including major purchases in oil, defense, gold, and safe-haven assets while Trump publicly insisted the war would end “soon.”
The explosive disclosure, published by the Office of Government Ethics on May 14, offers what experts say may be the first detailed look in modern American history at an actively traded public-market portfolio tied to a sitting U.S. president.
According to the 113-page filing, the account carried out 3,642 trades between January and March 2026, representing an estimated volume between $220 million and $750 million. The activity averaged roughly 60 trades per day and included purchases of major energy giants such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Phillips 66, alongside defense contractors including Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.
The timing of the trades has drawn particular scrutiny.
On March 23, after weeks of escalating war with Iran and soaring global oil prices, Trump abruptly softened his rhetoric and announced that negotiations with Tehran were progressing positively. In a Truth Social post written in all capital letters, the president declared that talks with Iran were “very good and productive” and extended a looming military deadline by five days.
Financial markets reacted instantly. Oil prices plunged nearly 11 percent, stocks surged, and many energy companies lost value after weeks of gains driven by fears of prolonged conflict. Yet the same day, according to the ethics filing, the brokerage account in Trump’s name reportedly bought additional energy and defense stocks, investments that would likely benefit if the war intensified again.
The disclosures have fueled accusations of a glaring conflict of interest, despite the fact that federal law exempts sitting presidents from criminal conflict-of-interest statutes that apply to nearly every other executive branch official.
For decades, U.S. presidents have traditionally attempted to avoid even the appearance of financial conflicts by using blind trusts, broad index funds, or liquidating business holdings altogether. Former President Jimmy Carter famously sold his family’s peanut business to avoid ethical concerns while in office.
Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said the scale of the trading activity is unprecedented.
“I’ve gone through every president,” Painter told Fortune. “I don’t think we’ve had any president trade in the stock market.” The Trump Organization defended the arrangement, insisting the investments are managed entirely by third-party financial institutions using automated systems.
In a statement to Fortune, the company said the firms handling the accounts possess “sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions,” adding that neither Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization participates in “selecting, directing, or approving specific investments.”
The White House separately stated that Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and maintained there are “no conflicts of interest.” Critics, however, argue the disclosures raise troubling questions about whether presidential public statements could indirectly influence markets connected to investments bearing the president’s name.
The filings show the account increasingly shifted toward safe-haven assets as the Iran war escalated, even while Trump publicly projected confidence and repeatedly claimed the conflict would soon end.
On March 2, the first trading day after the war began, the account purchased shares in gold mining company Newmont. Days later, after Iran reportedly closed the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, the account moved heavily into U.S. Treasury bond ETFs and gold trusts.
Additional purchases included international and emerging-market exchange-traded funds, along with large cash positions reportedly reaching between $1 million and $5 million.
The controversy also revives long-running concerns first raised during Trump’s initial presidency. Former Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub previously criticized Trump’s trust arrangements as “not even halfway blind” before resigning in 2017 after repeated clashes with the administration over ethics standards.
While no evidence has emerged suggesting Trump directly instructed the trades, ethics experts warn that the unprecedented overlap between presidential power, geopolitical crises, and large-scale active investing threatens to erode public trust in the independence of the presidency itself.
The revelations are likely to intensify demands in Congress for stricter rules governing financial holdings and market activity by presidents and senior elected officials, particularly during periods of war or major international crises.
