Leavitt read out loud a list of trades made by Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, that she said beat out Warren Buffett and every hedge fund on Wall Street.
“The president has spoken to Senator Hawley, who called him, and the president took that call,” Leavitt said. “As the president said in the Roosevelt Room yesterday, conceptually, he of course supports the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves.”
She didn’t hold back when naming names.
“And the reason that this idea—to put a ban on stock trading for members of Congress—is even a thing is because of Nancy Pelosi,” Leavitt said. “I mean, she is rightfully criticized because she makes, I think, $174,000 a year, yet she has a net worth of approximately $413 million.”
“In 2024, Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio—this was a fascinating statistic to me—grew 70% in one year, and her portfolio outperformed every single large hedge fund in that same year, and even more than doubled the returns of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.”
Leavitt said the president supports the public’s outrage.
“So I think the president stands with the American people on this. He doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process.”
“As for the mechanics of the legislation and how it will move forward,” she added, “the White House continues to be in discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill.”
This came after Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, found himself on the receiving end of a harsh social media post by President Donald Trump.
Hawley is sponsoring a bill to ban members of Congress from being able to trade individual stocks. An amendment to the bill would have carved out an exemption to allow the president to engage in stock trading, but Hawley joined Senate Democrats in voting “no.” That prompted Trump to blast Hawley on Truth Social, calling him a “second-tier Senator.”
Hawley described the situation as a misunderstanding, telling Fox News that the bill exempts President Trump and Vice President Vance. The language instead bans future presidents from trading stock.
Republicans also attempted to add language that would have required a report on stock trades made by former Speaker Pelosi and her husband, but Senate Democrats and Republican Hawley teamed up and defeated the move.
In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Hawley said that the legislation has the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), many Republicans, and even some Democrats. He also said Johnson told him President Donald Trump supported the original bill titled Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.
“Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve—not day trading at the expense of their constituents,” stated Hawley in April when he originally introduced the bill. “Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public. It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body.”
The PELOSI Act would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from buying, selling, or holding individual stocks while serving in office. Instead, lawmakers would be permitted to invest in diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or U.S. Treasury bonds.
‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed concerns about visiting New York City under its newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to arrest him over an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.
Netanyahu, speaking in an interview with Australian journalist Erin Molan, reacted strongly to Mamdani’s anti-‘Israel’ stance, calling the threats unfounded and predicting a bleak future for the city under socialist policies.
Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic socialist and former New York State Assembly member, made history by winning the 2025 New York City mayoral election on November 4, defeating Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa with 50.4% of the vote.
As the first Muslim, South Asian, and youngest mayor in over a century, Mamdani’s victory energized progressive voters but drew criticism for his vocal opposition to ‘Israel’.
He assumes office on January 1, 2026, amid debates over his platform, which includes affordable housing and police reform.
During his campaign, Mamdani pledged to honor the ICC’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu for his war crimes in Gaza, stating he would direct the NYPD to detain the ‘Israeli’ leader if he enters the city.
Legal experts have called this promise unenforceable, as local authorities lack jurisdiction over international warrants without federal involvement.
Mamdani doubled down on the vow in October, framing it as a stand against what he termed genocide in the ‘Israeli’ assault on Gaza.
Netanyahu, undeterred, told Molan, “Hell no, of course not,” when asked if he feared arrest in New York.
He criticized Mamdani as a “young uneducated leader” lacking knowledge of economics and antisemitism, urging him to “get his act together” before making such statements.
Netanyahu said he is willing to have dialogue with Mamdani if he educates himself on these issues, per his expression.
The prime minister linked Mamdani’s socialist policies to economic failure, drawing from ‘Israel’s’ own shift away from socialism under his leadership, which he credited with boosting growth and reducing inequality.
He warned that such approaches could bankrupt New York, stating, “That’s where NY might be headed.”
Netanyahu also connected rising antisemitism to societal collapse, noting it “always collapses societies” by targeting Jews first, then other groups.
He predicted a “very dim future” for New York under Mamdani.