Vance defends stock-trading spree in Trump financial filings: 'Come on, man'

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC.

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Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump against a question about the heavy stock trading on display in the president's latest financial disclosures, which revealed transactions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars over just three months.

"The president doesn't sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his, like, Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks," Vance said in response to a reporter at a White House press briefing.

"That's absurd. He has independent wealth advisors who manage his money. He is a wealthy person. He has had success in business," Vance said.

"He's not making these stock trades himself," the vice president said, while accusing the reporter of suggesting otherwise.

The filings, made public Thursday, showed more than 3,700 transactions in the first three months of 2026 alone. They include securities of companies Trump "has talked up at events" and in social media posts — some of which even included stock ticker symbols, the reporter noted to Vance.

For instance, the disclosures show purchases of artificial intelligence software giant and government contractor Palantir in March. In April, as Palantir shares suffered their worst week in over a year, Trump praised the company on Truth Social, writing, "Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!! President DJT."

White House spokesman Davis Ingle told CNBC in a statement Friday that Trump's assets "are in a trust managed by his children," adding, "there are no conflicts of interest."

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization later said the president's investment holdings are "maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions."

"Trades are executed and portfolios are balanced through automated investment processes and systems administered by those institutions. Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments," the spokesperson said. "They receive no advance notice of trading activity and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio management of any kind."

The reporter who broached the subject to Vance on Tuesday said in his question, "Americans, according to recent polling, are increasingly describing the president as corrupt."

"This is a hell of a question," Vance quipped as the reporter continued.

When the reporter compared Vance's prior support for banning public officials from trading individual stocks with Trump's apparent trading activity, Vance interrupted: "OK, what's the question?"

Vance affirmed he is a "big fan" of banning congressional stock trading, and "so is the president of the United States."

"All of us believe that nobody should be taking proprietary information gained from public service and buying and selling stocks," he said.

"We want to ban that process. And I think the way to lead by example is banning that process, banning that approach, and making it illegal, which is exactly what the president has proposed doing," he said.