Congressional stock trading reports show that two allies of President Trump added Tesla (TSLA) shares in May as the relationship between the president and Elon Musk began to show signs of strain but before a falling out between the two men triggered a stock price drop.
The most recently disclosed trades by Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania — moves that both lawmakers say were made by financial advisers without their input — for now appear to have resulted in a loss for the lawmakers.
Members of Congress have 30 days by law to disclose their personal trades and those of their families — suggesting more recent activity could yet be in the offing.
A combination of pictures shows President Donald Trump May 5 and Elon Musk on May 30. (ALEX WROBLEWSKI,ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images) ·ALEX WROBLEWSKI via Getty Images
The trades from Rep. Bresnahan were disclosed Tuesday in a new filing and are notable after the freshman lawmaker campaigned in his recent run for Congress in part on prohibiting the practice but has since emerged as one of Capitol Hill’s more prolific traders.
A spokesperson for Rep. Bresnahan said Tuesday that the lawmaker uses a financial adviser and that he is not aware of trades until they are disclosed. He also previously announced he would move his assets into a blind trust and is currently working with the House Committee on Ethics to enact his plans there.
Rep. Greene also told Yahoo Finance in a statement, “I have signed a fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments. All of my investments are reported with full transparency. I refuse to hide my stock trades in a blind trust like many others do. Since my portfolio manager makes my trades for me, I usually find out about them when the media asks.”
Rep. Bresnahan’s brokerage account made eight disclosed trades of Tesla this year. He bought shares in April and May after selling shares in February and March.
The exact value of his shares are unknown, as the law only requires lawmakers to report transactions within a range of values. Each of Bresnahan’s trades were in the range of $1,001-$15,000.
Bresnahan’s disclosure on Tuesday revealed over 50 recent trades, including purchases of Nvidia (NVDA), JPMorgan (JPM), and Meta (META).
The trading could also be a political liability for Bresnahan who won his seat last year by less that two percentage points. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee immediately highlighting the trades with spokesperson Eli Cousin telling Yahoo Finance the trades are “the reason why he will be a one-term member of Congress.”
Greene, meanwhile, has been a consistent buyer of Tesla all year. Her disclosures also reveal eight trades this year, all purchases in that same range of $1,001-$15,000.
Both lawmakers also have significant overlap with Elon Musk and his business interests.
Greene is the chair of a House DOGE subcommittee, where she has loudly supported Musk’s efforts. Some of her more vocal comments — such as urging on Trump administration investigations into violent Tesla protests — have raised questions among some ethics experts who recently noted to Forbes that House ethics rules currently prohibit lawmakers from taking action to benefit their own financial interest.
This week’s disclosure is the latest twist in a debate around the ethics of lawmakers trading stocks that has raged for years — from some high-profile trades in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to a renewed focus recently when data showed lawmaker trading activity spiking as Trump roiled markets with his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Two of the most prolific traders in that recent stretch of tariff-fueled trading — a Wall Street Journal analysis found — were Bresnahan and Democrat Ro Khanna of California. Both lawmakers have previously supported banning the practice.
Khanna also purchased Tesla stock as recently as April, according to the Quiver Quantitative tallies.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia presides over a hearing on “Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE)” at the Capitol in February. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) ·Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson also recently said he is supportive of efforts toward a stock trading ban but didn’t say whether he will bring up the effort for a House vote. Another prominent supporter is Trump, who has said he would sign a ban if it reached his desk.
But that bill has been introduced repeatedly in recent years without seeing action as lawmakers from both parties express support for the idea of stock bans even while continuing to trade.
Bresnahan was elected to his first term in Congress last year and has emerged as just the most recent example.
Rob Bresnahan, the eventually successful Republican candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania, appeared as a Trump campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania on October 9, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) ·Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
He expressed support for a ban on the campaign trail last year, writing at the time that “the idea that we can buy and sell stocks while voting on legislation that will have a direct impact on these companies is wrong and needs to come to an end immediately.”
Since entering Congress, Bresnahan has also unveiled a plan that would ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading while in office but allow them to keep existing holdings, calling it the Transparency in Representation through Uniform Stock Trading Ban (TRUST) Act.
This post has been updated.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
