President Donald Trump spoke with Sen. Josh Hawley about a Senate measure that would ban trading and ownership of stocks and certain other assets by lawmakers, the president and vice president and their spouses and dependent children shortly after he panned the Missouri Republican.
“The president has spoken to Sen. Hawley, who called him and the president took that call, as the president said in the Roosevelt Room yesterday,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “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.”
Hawley authored the measure, which the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved Wednesday on a tight 8-7 vote, with Hawley joining Democrats to advance it. The panel tacked on a Hawley substitute amendment that extended the trading prohibitions to the president and vice president.
