Trump Administration Officials and Ethics

The New York Times reports that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, made up to $2.8 million in stock purchases across 31 companies on Dec. 29, including buying Chevron shares just days before Trump publicly attacked Venezuela over oil terms. Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, and its stock has climbed since Trump’s comments even as broader markets slipped, raising questions about whether a well‑placed senator benefited from moves closely tied to U.S. foreign‑policy pressure. Mullin, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who says he speaks with Trump “all the time,” has become one of Congress’s most prolific stock traders, though there is no direct evidence he had inside knowledge of the Venezuela move or broke existing law. The timing and scale of the trades are drawing fresh scrutiny as the Senate prepares to examine his nomination to helm DHS, which is steering billions of dollars in immigration‑related contracts after Kristi Noem was forced out over conflict‑of‑interest concerns. Ethics advocates and many politicians, including Trump himself in other contexts, have called for tighter limits or outright bans on stock trading by lawmakers and their families, warning that current rules leave the door open for self‑dealing and erode public trust.