The announcement of a 90 day pause in tariff implementation (for everyone except China) was welcome news. But pardoned California Senator Adam Schiff thinks that the pause is suspicious.

On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump announced – after seeing “yippy” and “queasy” reactions in the markets – that the administration would have a 90 day pause on the tariffs that had just begun at midnight.

Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 9, 2025

The full statement reads:

Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

President Trump also took questions from the media in the Oval Office, and in front of the White House during an event with auto racing champions, about the pause.

The S&P 500 skyrocketed 9.52% to settle at 5,456.90 for its biggest one-day gain since 2008. For the broad market index, it was the third-biggest gain in post-WWII history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2,962.86 points, or 7.87%, to close at 40,608.45 for its biggest percentage advance since March 2020. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 12.16% to end at 17,124.97, notching its largest one-day jump since January 2001 and second-best day ever.

About 30 billion shares traded hands, making it the heaviest volume day on Wall Street in history, according to records that go back 18 years.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified that all countries except China would return to the 10% baseline tariff rate, down from the higher rates that previously shocked the markets, as negotiations take place. The pause would not apply to sector tariffs, Bessent said.

But before the pause was announced, President Trump posted on Truth Social that now was the time to buy. Anyone who was paying attention, and trusted the president, could have racked up quite a win.

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social at 9:37 a.m.

Less than four hours later, Trump announced a 90-day pause on nearly all his tariffs. Stocks soared on the news, closing up 9.5% by the end of trading. The market, measured by the S&P 500, gained back about $4 trillion, or 70%, of the value it had lost over the previous four trading days.

It was a prescient call by the president. Maybe too prescient.

“He’s loving this, this control over markets, but he better be careful,” said Trump critic and former White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, noting that securities law prohibits trading on insider information or helping others do so. “The people who bought when they saw that post made a lot of money.”

Of course, that post was very public, and not a private message to any one person. Neither did the president tell people what to buy, though the media would like to speculate that in putting his own initials at the end of a post (which they acknowledge he does frequently), it was a code for Trump Media (because DJT is the stock symbol for Trump Media).

But now, pardoned Senator Adam Schiff (yes, that should be his full official name – he didn’t have to accept the pardon from Joe Biden) is suspicious. WHAT IF someone in the Trump administration knew the pause was coming… and profited off that insider knowledge??? Schiff has no concrete proof that this happened, but he is ASKING THE QUESTION.

Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing.

“I’m going to do my best to find out,” Schiff, a California Democrat, tells TIME. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.”

Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause. “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after the market opened on Wednesday, along with the letters “DJT,” which stands for both his initials and the ticker for his media company.

Schiff is the first Senator to openly call for a congressional investigation into potential insider trading by the Trump Administration in the aftermath of the President’s abrupt reversal on the implementation of new tariffs. Such investigations would typically fall under the purview of powerful congressional panels like the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Senate Finance Committee. Both are chaired by Republicans—Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho—who have largely avoided conflict with the White House. Individual lawmakers like Schiff can investigate matters using personal office staff, though such investigations would lack subpoena power.

And the pardoned Senator Schiff is taking this VERY SERIOUSLY.

Is Donald Trump's inner circle illegally profiting off of these huge swings in the stock market by insider trading?

Congress must find out. pic.twitter.com/ZZGX99PtFE

— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) April 9, 2025

Well, if we’re going to talk about insider trading…

Holy crap, this must happen. Someone call the White House. pic.twitter.com/xAeKsl15W7

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 9, 2025

Nancy Pelosi’s ability – or rather, her husband Paul’s ability – to play the stock market for a profit has become the stuff of legend. There’s even an X account that keeps track of Pelosi’s trades, as politicians must disclose their trades within 45 days of the transaction. This is not to say that other politicians haven’t had “good luck” in the stock market, but Pelosi’s success has been pretty marked. Will Adam Schiff be investigating Nancy Pelosi and any allegation of insider trading? Of course not! He’s trying to once again make himself important and set himself up as a “Resistance” leader against Trump.

Schiff carried a whole lot of water during the Trump 1.0 Administration, when he was a moderately influential House member trying to push both the Russian collusion narrative and impeachment. He eventually got what he wanted – a California Senate seat of lifetime tenure (and he should know, he practically ran over Dianne Feinstein’s corpse to get it), but now he is looking to recapture the magic he previously had when he was constantly in front of the cameras during the first Trump administration. If Schiff thinks that Trump engineered his tariff announcements solely to manipulate the stock market for insider trading purposes, well… best of luck in proving that, since absolutely no one seemed to be able to predict what the president was going to do – not even his own Cabinet secretaries when the markets were dropping a few days ago.

Howard Lutnick when Tesla was at 288.14 a share: “Buy Tesla! It will never be this cheap again. People are going to dream about today and say they should have bought Musk’s stock.”

Tesla is now 216.66. pic.twitter.com/862YF8hTTb

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 7, 2025

Uh-huh. We’re now back to the old Trump conundrum that his opponents have to grapple with every single time. They either say he’s an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s doing, or a diabolical genius playing 4-D chess. Someone should ask Adam Schiff which it is.

Featured Photo Composite: Brookings Institution/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons/Michele Grewe/flickr.com/cropped/Public Domain