Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi grew visibly agitated during a CNN interview Wednesday when host Jake Tapper confronted her about President Donald Trump’s allegations regarding insider trading and her family’s stock market activities.
The tense exchange occurred during Pelosi’s appearance on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on July 30, 2025. When Tapper attempted to show Trump’s comments from earlier that day accusing Pelosi of becoming wealthy through insider information, technical difficulties prevented the clip from playing. As Tapper began reading Trump’s statement aloud, Pelosi interrupted him sharply.
“Why do you have to read that?” the California Democrat snapped, her frustration evident as she gestured angrily. Pelosi emphasized that she had agreed to appear on the program to discuss the 60th anniversary of Medicaid, not to address stock trading allegations.
Tapper persisted, explaining he wanted to give her an opportunity to respond to Trump’s accusations of insider trading. Pelosi dismissed the allegations as ridiculous and stated she strongly supports efforts to stop congressional stock trading. She clarified that such support stems not from belief that wrongdoing occurs, but because restrictions would instill greater confidence among the American people.
The former House Democratic leader defended her family’s investment activities, indicating she has no concerns about what she characterized as obvious investments made over time. Pelosi stressed that while she does not engage in stock trading, her husband Paul Pelosi does, but emphasized these activities have nothing to do with insider information.
Pelosi then turned the focus back on Trump, suggesting the President has his own exposure to stock trading issues and accuses others as a form of projection. She requested that Tapper not give Trump additional airtime on the matter.
The confrontational interview occurred against the backdrop of renewed congressional debate over lawmakers’ stock trading privileges. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation that would ban members of Congress, along with presidents and vice presidents, from trading individual stocks while in office.
Hawley’s bill, initially dubbed the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act with the acronym PELOSI, cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in an eight to seven vote. The measure gained support from committee Democrats, while facing opposition from Republicans except for Hawley himself.
As part of negotiations to secure Democratic backing, Hawley agreed to rename the legislation the HONEST Act, or Halting Ownership of Non-Ethical Securities and Trusts Act. The revised version extends trading restrictions to include presidents and vice presidents, though these provisions would be grandfathered in and would not apply to Trump or Vice President J.D. Vance during the current administration.
Trump initially expressed conceptual support for the legislation when speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, calling for investigations into Pelosi and claiming she has achieved some of the highest returns in Wall Street history. However, the President later reversed course, posting on Truth Social that Hawley was playing into Democrats’ hands and that the bill would benefit Pelosi and her husband while harming the country.
Paul Pelosi, a venture capitalist, has built considerable wealth through decades of investments, with his estimated net worth reaching $262 million according to Quiver Quantitative. Critics have long raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the timing of certain trades, including Paul Pelosi’s sale of 30,000 Google shares in December 2022, one month before the company faced antitrust litigation.
Additional scrutiny arose in 2022 when Paul Pelosi traded between one and five million dollars worth of semiconductor stocks days before Congress voted on a $52 million industry subsidy. Nancy Pelosi’s office has consistently maintained that she does not own stocks and has no knowledge of or involvement in her husband’s trading activities.
During the CNN interview, Pelosi expressed pride in her family and referenced the 2022 hammer attack on her husband, criticizing Trump for allegedly inspiring the violence and subsequently mocking the incident. She indicated she preferred not to elaborate on additional complaints about Trump, choosing instead to focus on healthcare anniversary discussions.
The congressional stock trading debate has generated sufficient interest that investment firms have created exchange-traded funds tracking lawmakers’ portfolios. The Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF, with the ticker symbol NANC as a reference to Pelosi, follows securities bought and sold by Democratic members of Congress and their spouses. A corresponding Republican version operates under the ticker GOP.
Pelosi has never faced criminal charges related to insider trading allegations, and her communications director has reiterated that all stock market transactions are conducted by her husband independently of any congressional information or influence.
