Democratic senators accuse Trump of possible leak, call for investigation into jobs report tweet
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Democratic lawmakers have accused the president of tipping off investors after they say he potentially leaked important data ahead of the monthly jobs report.
Now they're calling on regulators to investigate what they call “a violation of federal guidelines.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced on Friday that she and two fellow senators, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., had sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission concerning what they said were Trump’s “reckless comments on market-moving economic data prior to their public release.”
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Warren was referring to a tweet by Trump on June 1 that said he was “looking forward” to the jobs report that was set to be released later that same morning.
Her letter alleges that the “remark clearly implied that the employment numbers were positive for the administration and surpassed market expectations.” Warren said that markets reacted immediately.
The letter calls on federal regulators to open an investigation into what they say was “a violation of federal guidelines” and see if insider information was used to tip off any person or corporate entity, according to a press release from Warren’s office.
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The president and a small number of senior officials are normally briefed on the report the night before it is set to be released.
Government officials are prohibited from sharing this information until it is made public.
“We are concerned in particular that the president or other White House staff may have disclosed the prerelease data beyond the very small group authorized to see them before their official publication” Warren’s letter read. “A wider dissemination increases the possibility that this inside information could be used to unlawful advantage in the market.”
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WATCH: US ADDED 223,000 JOBS IN MAY
Wyden called Trump’s tweet “reckless and irresponsible” and said it stacked the deck in favor of Wall Street. “We must determine the extent of the president's leaking, its impact on the financial markets and whether Trump's friends benefitted from it,” he said in the press release.
Trump is known to use Twitter as a platform to boast about economic growth under his administration. He tweets often about the growing jobs market.
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Letters were also sent to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.