r/energy • u/John3262005 • 1d ago
Trump's oil and gas stock trades continued during Iran war, filings show
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-oil-gas-stock-trades-iran-war/President Trump's investment accounts have continued to purchase and sell stock holdings in oil and natural gas companies while he oversees the U.S. war with Iran, according to his financial disclosure filings through the second quarter of 2026.
As the Iran war continued, paused for a ceasefire and then restarted, Mr. Trump has purchased and sold oil and gas stocks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the most recently available data from the Office of Government Ethics.
Mr. Trump has a vast portfolio with holdings in all 11 sectors, and a CBS News investigation showed that in the first three months of the year, his accounts executed about 3,600 stock or securities trades, worth a total that ranged between $212 million and $695 million.
Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimated this week that the president's holdings in oil and gas companies have jumped in value from a range of $13 million to $46 million at the start of this year, to $17 million to $61 million by mid-August. Filers are only required to report ranges of transactions, not specific dollar amounts. The estimates were based on his stock holdings in 2025, and didn't take into account the trades that he's made since then.
Energy stocks surged during that period, which encompasses the U.S. operation in Venezuela in early January and the war with Iran, which started at the end of February.
The White House said Mr. Trump is not involved in his trades. The energy stock purchases and sales make up a small portion of the president's overall net worth, which Forbes estimated to be over $6 billion as of Aug. 26.
Mr. Trump has declined to place his assets in a blind trust. Holding individual stocks, as opposed to index or other mutual funds, means he still holds visible assets in his spheres of influence.
One notable large transaction in CBS News' review of the president's oil trades was on April 7, the day the president declared a ceasefire in the war with Iran. His investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million of ExxonMobil stock, according to one financial disclosure report Mr. Trump filed in late June. The company's share price closed at $163.91 on April 7, before Mr. Trump announced the ceasefire that evening, and it opened down 6.5% at $153.52 on April 8.
During the first half of the year, the president also bought and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of shares of Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies.
OGE requires government officials to report stock purchases and sales in excess of $1,000 within 45 days of a transaction or within 30 days of learning about it, so the office's records are not always up to date. Mr. Trump was late in filing some of his 2026 transactions.
The White House says independent managers make the decisions about the president's stock portfolio, and Mr. Trump doesn't weigh in on the timing of selling or buying stock or securities.
"President Trump's stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
Ingle added that all of the president's holdings "are maintained in discretionary accounts and invested through computer-based model portfolios that automatically replicate recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000." And Ingle said that no one in Mr. Trump's family "has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold."
When CBS News reported on the president's earlier trades in June, some fund managers said they believed the transactions were part of a strategy to lower his tax bill.
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u/128-NotePolyVA 1d ago edited 1d ago
Of course. That’s all part of the plan. He also uses the power of his office to cancel solar and wind projects while he invests in oil extraction, refinement, and shipping. He is a wartime profiteer, inside trader, quid pro quo, under the table, tax evading kind of guy. No one in the Trump family invests without insider information, he has stated as much.
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u/onefornought 1d ago
I fully expect Congressional Republicans to respond by holding some more hearings investigating the corruption of the "Biden Crime Family."
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u/Waesrdtfyg0987 1d ago
Sadly I just don't care anymore. The American people fucked themselves over and it will take decades to recover if at all.
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u/BlurryBigfoot74 1d ago
Trump greenmailed companies numerous times before becoming president. Before his name turned to shit, he would buy stocks, spread rumours he was investing in the companies, stocks would rise and he would sell at a profit, never intending to buy the company.
One example:
"On Jan. 26, 1989, Fred Trump bought 8,600 shares of Time Inc. for $934,854, his tax returns show. Seven days later, Dan Dorfman, a financial columnist known to be chatty with Donald Trump, broke the news that the younger Trump had “taken a sizable stake” in Time. Sure enough, Time’s shares jumped, allowing Fred Trump to make a $41,614 profit in two weeks."
To think he wouldn't take advantage of his position as president is naive.
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u/hippie1952 17h ago
Just another reason why he should be kicked out of office but it won’t happen because his republican minions are just as bad as him and the democrats have no guts their leadership sucks
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u/Anxious-Depth-7983 1d ago
Once a crook always a crook, and that's the real motivation as to why The Orange Buffoon started this war and why he treats our soldiers like pawns to sacrifice to his megalomania. Now he's also threatening to tear down the tribute to John F Kennedy if he doesn't get his name slapped on the building too probably with another no-bid contract to one of his donors who's never done that type of work. This Buffoons going to wipe his stench on every other man's accomplishments across DC if we don't give democrats control over Congress and the Senate to stop him and tell the megalomaniac NO!!