WASHINGTON, May 16, 2026 — Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., called President Donald Trump “the most corrupt president in our history” Friday after new federal disclosures revealed Trump personally bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stock in technology companies and government contractors — including Nvidia, Palantir, and Axon — while his administration was making regulatory decisions favorable to those same companies.
“Americans should be confident that their leaders have the people’s best interest at heart — not their personal wealth,” Padilla wrote on X. “Trump has raked in billions of dollars while Americans continue to struggle.”
The disclosures, filed May 14 with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, indicate Trump made more than 3,600 individual stock and other financial trades during the first three months of 2026 — a sharp departure from his first year back in office, when he largely invested in corporate and municipal bonds.
Nvidia: Trades Before Major Decisions
Trump purchased between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on January 6 — one week before the Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China, according to the disclosures. He then purchased an additional $1 million to $5 million worth of Nvidia stock on February 10, one week before Nvidia announced a major computer processing deal with Meta.
Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, designs and sells advanced semiconductors essential to artificial intelligence development. It is also a major government contractor. The federal government controls the sale of advanced AI chips to countries designated as foreign adversaries, including China — making Commerce Department chip export decisions directly material to Nvidia’s business prospects.
AMD, another AI semiconductor company, was authorized by the Commerce Department to sell chips to Chinese customers on January 13. Trump had purchased between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of AMD stock on January 6 — the same day he bought into Nvidia. His total AMD purchases for the quarter came to at least $740,000, according to the disclosures.
Palantir: Trades Around a Billion-Dollar DHS Contract
Trump purchased at least $260,000 worth of Palantir Technologies stock during the first quarter of 2026, according to the OGE periodic transaction report. In January, he bought between $65,000 and $150,000 in Palantir stock. In February, he sold between $1.1 million and approximately $5.3 million of his Palantir holdings. In March, he purchased an additional $200,000 to $500,000 worth.
In February, Palantir struck a billion-dollar agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to use the company’s software in the administration’s deportation surge. Palantir also holds a contract surpassing a billion dollars with the Pentagon to develop AI systems used in military operations.
Axon: Trades Before a $220 Million ICE Contract
On February 10 — the same day he made his second large Nvidia purchase — Trump also bought between $1 million and $5 million in shares of Axon, the company that manufactures Tasers. He purchased additional Axon stock valued between $15,000 and $50,000 on March 2.
On February 24, Immigration and Customs Enforcement outlined a plan to spend $220 million on Tasers over five years — a contract that would represent a major windfall for Axon. ICE had already spent $2.2 million in January on body cameras from the Arizona-based company.
White House Response
The Trump Organization told reporters that the president, his family, and the organization itself play no role in the investments and receive no notice of trading activity. “President Trump’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,” a spokesperson said. “Trades are executed and portfolios are balanced through automated investment processes and systems administered by those institutions.”
The White House issued its own statement after the story was first published. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news medium,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”
A Broader Pattern
Beyond Nvidia, AMD, Palantir, and Axon, Trump also spent millions on shares of other government contractors during the quarter, including Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, according to the disclosures. He also traded stock in companies led by executives who joined him on his state visit to China this week — among them Apple, Meta, GE Aerospace, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and BlackRock.
The trades represent a notable shift in strategy. Trump had largely avoided equities during the first year of his second term, instead investing in bonds. The first quarter of 2026 saw him move aggressively into stocks just as his administration was making major regulatory and procurement decisions affecting many of those same companies.
At his last State of the Union address, Trump himself called for banning members of Congress from trading stocks. “Let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” he said. Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of California shouted back from the floor: “How about you first?”
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