President Donald Trump took aim at fellow Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley, after the Missourian joined with Democrats to advance a proposed stock ban for lawmakers as well as the president and vice president.
The president called Hawley “second-tier,” casting doubt on the fate of the Senate bill after a messy committee fight. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who voted against it, told Semafor he planned to “get re-engaged … to do it the right way.”
Trump has backed a ban on lawmaker trading, but Hawley’s current legislation would also affect him: He and Vice President JD Vance would be barred from buying and limited from selling, though only future presidents and vice presidents would have to divest.
Hawley told reporters after Trump’s post that he was “happy to do whatever it would take to get him to say ‘yes,’” including amending the proposal to exempt Trump and Vance out from the buying and selling restrictions as well as the divestment ones. “I want to see this bill signed,” Hawley said. “For me, the most important piece is the congressional stock ban.”
Meanwhile, the House appears poised to steer clear of Trump: Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., who is leading negotiations on its version, told Semafor that “our discussions … have focused on congressional stock trading.”
“It’s going to have to be a bipartisan bill, because this is an issue with bipartisan support,” Magaziner said. “What I say to my Democratic colleagues is that … we, as members of Congress, have more credibility to talk about the need for stronger ethics of the executive … branch if we also show that we’re willing to clean up our own house.”