Businessman Kevin O’Leary largely dismissed the idea that President Donald Trump gave insider trading to his supporters and allies, suggesting the president was “celebrating entrepreneurship” among consumers concerned over the stock market.
On Wednesday morning, Trump posted to Truth Social that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY” on the stock market, just a few hours before it rebounded as he delayed most of his tariffs on other countries. While some Democrats, including Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), have accused the president of providing insider trading, O’Leary disagreed, arguing Trump claimed it was a good time to buy and the market proceeded to go up “just as likely it goes down.”
“He’s telling people to go buy the American index; the president’s supposed to do that!” O’Leary said on The Don Lemon Show. “He’s supposed to be a cheerleader. He knows there’s a lot of volatility. He’s telling them, ‘Look, the market’s corrected 20%, and it’s a good time to buy.’”
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O’Leary continued by assessing that half of the population is driven by “Trump Derangement Syndrome” in their advocacy to put the president “back in jail.” While the Shark Tank host said he understands this sentiment, he encouraged Trump’s rivals to focus on the United States instead of trying to jail Trump, citing how “they already tried that” over the last four years and should “get over it.”
Beyond the “total speculation” that insider trading accusations are based on, O’Leary also pushed back against the idea Trump manipulated the stock market, saying he was “driving policy” with his use of tariffs. He clarified that insider trading is “a federal offense,” but he did not see it present in Trump’s social media post.
“If you missed that upside yesterday, you basically left 4.5% on the table you’re not going to get back, maybe, so it’s really a crazy time, and I agree with that,” O’Leary explained to Lemon. “But trying to tie insider trading to market volatility, Don, I love you, honey sweetie poopsie, that ain’t going to happen. None of this stuff has any teeth, any traction, and I don’t even think it’ll get investigated because it’s so obvious what happened here.”
TRUMP: TARIFFS WILL RETURN AFTER 90 DAYS IF US DOESN’T GET DEALS ‘THAT WE LIKE’
O’Leary went viral this week after he pushed for Trump and the U.S. to implement 400% tariffs on China, citing how the latter country does not “play by the rules.” He also stated that under Trump’s watch, China is now dealing with “an administration that puts up and says enough.”
Currently, the Trump administration’s tariffs on China sit at 145%.
