r/law • u/Snapdragon_4U • 3h ago
Executive Branch (Trump) Trump Bought Over $1M in Dell Stock Before Pentagon Signed $9.7B Contract with Company
https://people.com/trump-bought-dell-shares-before-pentagon-contract-119895901.3k
u/ChecksAndBalanz 3h ago
If you time traveled back 15-20+ years and tried to tell even the most hard core Conservative that this story is will happen they would be outraged but now they either don’t care or actually like this level of corruption.
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u/Logicalidiot 3h ago
They will say Biden did it
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u/sokuyari99 3h ago
First Biden shit Trumps diaper, and now he’s trading trumps stocks.
How can he keep getting away with being a secret agent cabal master who is also too old and sleepy to do anything? No one knows
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u/JustALittleScamp 3h ago
Quick, get Kash on the case. I need answers.
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u/Electronic-Stick-161 2h ago
In Kash’s defense he’s really good at seeing both sides of an issue.
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u/HeNeverSawMollyAgain 1h ago
He can look both ways before crossing the street without turning his head, he's able to look forward while keeping an eye on the past, and he can see around corners.
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u/ShaperLord777 3h ago
Alright, but they’re gonna be hand written on a bar napkin, stuffed into a bottle of Schnapps.
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u/yabn5 3h ago
This is basically the conservative cope with Trump, for basically everything. Oh 1.7Bn. Slush fund? Uhhh liberals did it to with NGO’s (no they didn’t). Absolutely zero values.
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u/osiris0413 1h ago
It's not even real cope at this point. Intellectual conservatism has been dying a slow death since the unholy union with evangelicals propelled Reagan to power, but they drowned it in a bathtub when Trump won the nomination in 2016 and virtually every sitting Republican politician went from warning about him being an existential danger to the Republic to licking his boots clean in the space of a few months.
Their guiding principle has always been power, and they realized that they didn't have to pretend to believe that their policies were actually good for the country anymore. Granted, even back in the day believing that laissez-faire economic policy or failing to invest in renewable energy or opposing any public option for our healthcare system was in any way beneficial to our nation or citizenry in the long run required a myopic view of human nature and ignorance of decades of research in those fields, but at least they came up with rationale and theories and invested in foundations like Heritage and Cato that would grant them a veneer of respectability.
Now we're about one degree of separation from the scene in 1984 where people are holding a rally to thank the government for its generosity in increasing chocolate rations from 35 grams to 25 grams a day. Believing that this proposed fund had anything in common with NGOs requires ignorance of the facts at hand and willing, blind submission to authority. Because that's what fascists demand of their followers, so that when we get to the point of people being shot in the street or disappeared into detention centers it's easy to accept the lie that they were terrorist agitators.
Terrifying that we are at this point and he is still in power.
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u/edfitz83 2h ago
And Biden was stupid enough that he didn’t have a gold plated resort in Florida where he could fly to every weekend at the taxpayers expense.
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u/The-Jesus_Christ 2h ago edited 53m ago
We know what they will say because Mike Johnson has already addressed this:
"Well us politicians have been on the same 1%'er wage for a few years now due to the Democrats wage freeze, it's unliveable! So we need to be sympathetic and allow those that want to engage in some insider trading to do so, so that they can feed their kids"
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u/evranch 57m ago
In just about any other country on Earth, this sort of statement would be grounds for riots. Even here in Canada, I think. Because insider trading is actually actively scamming all other traders, which amounts to stealing from everyone's pension funds.
Between blatantly owning up to corruption like this and suddenly changing the index rules so every SPY and VOO owner will become a SpaceX bag holder, anyone who has a single dollar invested should be out in the streets.
Myself I've never been happier to be holding defensive ETFs and to be mostly an options trader these days. And to be a Canadian
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u/scorpious09 3h ago
He literally already said something to the extent that “Pelosi does/did it, and no one cared”
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u/whoeezthat 2h ago
Actually the phrase I hear now it’s “that’s how it’s always been” then cite hunter biden and Nancy Pelosi…..ffs if you are morally outraged over corruption be consistent
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u/Alert-Ad9197 3h ago
They were defending Cheney exercising millions of dollars in Haliburton stock options while he was Vice President about 20 years ago. I’m not sure how shocked or outraged this would make them.
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u/grundsau 3h ago
I find this trend by Democrats to whitewash past Republican administrations or politicians frankly appalling.
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u/Alert-Ad9197 2h ago
This is the second time in my life that a GOP administration has lied about a middle eastern country’s nuclear capabilities in order to go to war with them and then profit off of the war. We even got the skyrocketing oil prices again. I don’t know how people don’t see the clear pattern of behavior.
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u/RusticRaisins 2h ago
This is my third time...
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u/Alert-Ad9197 2h ago
What’s the third?
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u/RusticRaisins 2h ago
Gulf War, I can't recall if we claimed they had nuclear weapons but the war itself was heavily influenced by oil, specifically Iraq drilling in Kuwait.
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u/grundsau 2h ago
I don’t know how people don’t see the clear pattern of behavior.
Because the media works hard to hide it and the Democrats work hard to excuse it.
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u/evocativename 3h ago
Even that had the fig leaf of "well, he's only VP, it's not like he has any actual power, and he already had the stock options".
Which wasn't a good excuse by any means, but this is somehow even worse.
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u/Guyute101 3h ago
As Haliburton was the biggest contractor for the war. Ya, this is nothing new. Unfortunately.
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u/sp0rk_walker 54m ago
He walked away from VP job a billion dollars richer. and the major Republican emotion was jealousy.
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u/Professional-Trash-3 3h ago
A black president that was widely liked and respected really broke their brains. Every moral, ethic, and conviction they ever had or claimed to have stopped right there
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u/lowercasenameofmine 2h ago
Yup. And then cry how racism doesn't exist anymore except against white people 😂
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/Professional-Trash-3 3h ago
Well, "illegal criminals" has been a racist political trope for at least a century. FDR was one of our greatest presidents, but look up what Americas reaction to the Great Depression was with regards to Mexican Americans
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u/WagnerTrumpMaples 1h ago
Obama broke them so bad they started wearing tri corner hats to go back to a time where black people didn't have any rights.
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u/Bronco_Bomba 3h ago
You could just say Biden did this and they would be outraged. It’s a cult, they thrive on hypocrisy.
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u/Comprehensive_Tie431 3h ago
Naw, they've always been cool with it as long as an (R) is next to the name.
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u/texachusetts 3h ago
What I don’t understand is why Trump isn’t sharing his amazing stock tips on Truth Social? /s
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u/edfitz83 2h ago
Pretty clear case of insider trading, that can’t be prosecuted until a Dem is in charge, and his lawyers would drag it out so he would never have to serve a day in jail.
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u/Hates_rollerskates 3h ago
I like to tell my dad that Obama did something that a trump actually did and watch him get all pissed off at how bad Obama was. Then I say, "oh wait, did I say Obama, I meant Trump" and watch his brain melt.
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u/PlutoJones42 3h ago
Conservatives don’t actually have viewpoints or spines. They have masters and get told what they are supposed to think
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u/improveyourfuture 3h ago
He is LITERALLY Biff in Back to the Future 2. I can't believe that screenwriter was such a prophet. (He based that character on Trump)
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u/Rawkapotamus 3h ago
You could go back to yesterday and say Biden did it and they would demand the death penalty.
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u/TheStLouisBluths 3h ago
I think they all realized that Trump was their last chance to make America a white Christian nation so they got on board. It doesn’t matter to them if it’s christofascism as long as they’re the ones calling the shots.
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u/RaindropsInMyMind 3h ago
It really is amazing how the news cycle and propaganda gets to people. You could go back to right before Trump’s election in 2016 and tell them about it and they would be pissed. Now they either don’t know or if they do they assume it’s a lie or hand wave it away and say everyone does it.
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u/CharmingMechanic2473 1h ago
In WI the Drump signs all say “KING Drump 2028” now. They welcome the dictatorship. Break government, then claim to fix it with dictatorship.
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u/jojammin Competent Contributor 3h ago
Of all the terrible shit he has done, this is probably the least shady and it's still corrupt as fuck, impeachable self-dealing bs. How the fuck were fox news mouth breathers up in arms about Obama's tan suit. I'm so tired
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u/hustl3tree5 3h ago
Because he was black.
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u/jerfoo 2h ago
I have it under good authority he still is. Keep that under wraps though, we don't want this administration finding out.
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u/JustsaysNah 2h ago
This daughterfucker's entire administration only exists BECAUSE Obama is black!
This pants-shitting straight white trash isn't even a marginal fraction of the president Obama was, and I'm not even that big of a fan of Obama's.
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u/Correct_Doctor_1502 3h ago edited 2h ago
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 explicitly says the president and vice president are prohibited from buying, selling, and trading stock
The US Constitution explicitly says the president cannot use the office for financial gain
So explicitly illegal and unconstitutional
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u/FeralGiraffeAttack 3h ago
Yes the Supreme Court made this kind of thing constitutional so it doesn’t matter. Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) held that the President "is entitled to absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts." Then Trump v. United States (2024) held that a former U.S. President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority, and at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts, and only no immunity for unofficial acts.
So, in effect that means that anything that can be called "official" is legally untouchable. Checks and balances are officially broken
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u/kaithana 2h ago
Do either of those things really apply to him buying stock though? How could you possibly justify buying stock as an official act?
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u/FeralGiraffeAttack 2h ago
I think he’s absolutely a criminal but I’m sure that they can argue that it’s a security interest since the pentagon has a deal with Dell and he’s the commander in chief
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u/improveyourfuture 2h ago
Im still in shock at that ruling. I can't even grasp the thoughtlessness of anyone with the slightest interest in the law enabling that as precedent.
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u/Oregon-Pilot 1h ago
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it, as it was once said.
Big money/big power can actually do whatever the fuck they want, and that’s not being hyperbolic. Because, who is going to stop them?
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u/StronglyHeldOpinions 1h ago
Insider trading is an official act now apparently
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u/FeralGiraffeAttack 1h ago
Well yeah. He’s been doing insider trading since the first administration and nobody is stopping him. He’s the most corrupt president in history
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 2h ago
Elections are in November. I don't know what else to tell you. Unless the senate flips, and changes SCOTUS, this is the world we live in because no one seems capable of violent revolution.
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u/Sofer2113 2h ago
Gonna need a big citation there. The Securities Act of 1933 appears to be primarily about business registration with the SEC to trade stock on the market and about prohibiting fraud. The 1934 act appears to have something in it prohibiting presidents and vice presidents from using insider information in stock trading, but not stock trading in general.
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u/Correct_Doctor_1502 2h ago
Yeah wrong year my bad
It is impossible for the president to trade stock without insider trading because their knowledge and actions directly effect the market. It is why Trump is the only modern president to ever trade stocks while in office, they normally place their portfolio in blind trust until they leave office
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u/TreeInternational771 3h ago
Don’t worry guys this is all part of his official duties as president. SCOTUS okayed it 👍
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u/CelestialFury 2h ago
Insider trading where the POTUS can personally direct contracts, which is worse since he's generating the insider trading in the first place. We're at max corruption when you combine this with the Iran stock manipulations and Trump directing the IRS and DOJ to give him a slush fund. Like, the only thing left is if Trump and his cronies starts stealing Fort Knox gold and he'd have checked off things I couldn't have imagined years ago a POTUS was capable of doing. Republicans love it as they're equally corrupt.
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u/lowercasenameofmine 2h ago
And the head of the DOJ is Trump's former personal defense attorney.......
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u/CelestialFury 1h ago
I know this is beating a dead horse, but imagine Obama or Biden using their personal attorney (which I'm not even sure they have, other than maybe a retainer) as the AG of the DOJ?
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u/lowercasenameofmine 1h ago
Or imagine Obama or Biden becoming billions richer during their presidency
Or sending a delegate to support a fascist putin
Or sending the national guard to Red States to have their government turnover private citizen data
Or a myriad of other things.
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u/CelestialFury 1h ago
This is why we need to get a ruthless Democratic POTUS in 2028 and have them not give a single fuck about what Republicans say. If they complain, just call it the "Trump rule" and force them to worm around the term. What Republicans and the SCOTUS have let Trump do to this country is beyond the pale. I will never forgive or forget what they've done to us all.
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u/lowercasenameofmine 1h ago
Turns out I now know how it happened in Germany in the 1930s because it's happening in America because of MAGA and it's fucking depressing
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u/CelestialFury 1h ago
Yeah, I remember asking myself, "How could Germany let this happen to them?"
In 2025: "Oh, that's how." Hell, Hitler even had 25-30% of the total vote and was voted in democratically at first. Reading history is depressing at times.
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u/kaithana 2h ago
Someone (or many someone’s) sold that stock because they weren’t aware of what was going to happen and the president directly stole their profits. He stole that from investors like he steals from the American people every day.
And now him and his family never have to pay taxes ever again.
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u/trysten-9001 3h ago
Martha Stewart is typing.
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u/DarkLordJuicebox 3h ago
This sounds weird but every time I hear about some insider trading that no one seems to care about I think of Martha. How they put her through hell. Then 6 months of jail. For like a 30k buy?
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u/Sofer2113 3h ago
That's back when adults actually ran the room and the SEC wasn't entirely toothless.
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u/lowercasenameofmine 2h ago
Nah, America hates strong women. And women in general. And POC.. .
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u/TheOsirisOfThisShit_ 2h ago
Martha wasn't the focus of the investigation. She only got in trouble because she lied to the feds investigating a much bigger crime.
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u/TheOsirisOfThisShit_ 2h ago
Martha Stewart got in trouble for lying to federal agents, not for selling stock. The feds CLEARLY knew what had happened and wanted her to testify against her broker, but Martha chose to lie to their faces. It was really stupid and they threw the book at her after that.
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u/Junkstar 3h ago
Republican voters couldn’t be prouder I’ll bet.
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u/lowercasenameofmine 2h ago
They will either ignore it, excuse it, blame Obama somehow, or cheer it on. There will be no negative response from them
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u/EtchAGetch 27m ago
They'll say he is smart and shrewd, a businessman to the end, doing what he should be doing in that position.
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u/MoonBatsRule 2h ago
Sadly, most people don't understand the stock market enough to know that when one person profits as a result of insider trading, his profits are stolen from other investors who did not have the same info.
In plainer terms, imagine that your broker calls you and says "I think we've held Dell long enough, what do you think about selling", and you say "sure!". And then Trump buys your shares which then immediately rise 20%.
Trump stole that 20% from you.
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u/_jump_yossarian 2h ago
Next Dem POTUS needs to go after the gains and indict him.
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u/s_ox 3h ago
He should have bought options.
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u/kaiiizen 3h ago edited 3h ago
I'm fairly certain Trump doesn't know how to computer...but Baron, Don Jr, and Eric do.
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u/No-Discipline-5822 3h ago
Nah, he doesn’t trust any of them. Never even gave them advisor positions. He’s old school,he calls a guy who calls a guy who calls him back when the fix is in so he can call another guy who signs the contract.
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u/weezyverse 2h ago
You just throw up your hands anymore.
Like what else is there to do?
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