Government ethics records show President Donald Trump made up to $530,000 in Palantir stock
Government ethics records show President Donald Trump made up to $530,000 in Palantir stock purchases in March 2026, weeks before posting glowing remarks about the AI firm on Truth Social.
Newly released records from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics have put a fresh spotlight on President Donald Trump’s personal investment activity. The filings, made public during the week of May 15, 2026, and first reported by CNBC, show that Trump made at least seven separate stock purchases in Palantir Technologies during March 2026. The transactions totaled somewhere between $197,000 and $530,000, according to the disclosures.
Palantir, a Miami based artificial intelligence software company, had already been a closely watched name on Wall Street before the president’s trades came to light. What drew scrutiny was what happened next.
A Truth Social post and a stock surge
On April 10, 2026, Trump took to his Truth Social account to praise Palantir publicly, describing the company’s defense related technology in flattering terms. The post came at a particularly turbulent moment for the stock. Palantir had been suffering a sharp weekly decline driven by tensions surrounding the Iran conflict and a high profile critique from short-seller Michael Burry, sending shares downward before Trump weighed in.
Following the president’s post, Palantir’s stock climbed meaningfully. Shares rose from $128.06 at the time of the post to $152.62 by April 22, a gain of nearly 19% in less than two weeks. The timing of the purchases, followed so closely by a public endorsement that coincided with a notable price recovery, immediately fueled questions about potential conflicts of interest and the possibility of market influence.
Unsolicited trades and third party management
Adding another layer to the story, several of the seven documented Palantir transactions were classified as unsolicited, meaning they were executed without the direct recommendation of a financial advisor or broker. That detail drew additional attention, given the White House’s position that the president plays no role in managing his own portfolio.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization maintained that the president’s investments are held in fully discretionary accounts managed entirely by independent third party financial institutions, with no involvement from Trump or his family in selecting or approving individual trades. The spokesperson further emphasized that the president receives no advance notice of trading activity and has no input in portfolio management decisions of any kind.
White House spokesman David Ingle echoed that stance, stating that there are no conflicts of interest and that the president’s assets remain separated from his executive responsibilities.
Part of a much larger trading picture
The Palantir purchases are just one piece of a far broader financial story. Trump’s first quarter disclosures reveal an extraordinarily active trading period. In total, the president executed approximately 3,700 individual transactions between January and March 2026.
Among the most notable moves, Trump purchased more than $1 million each in shares of five major technology companies: Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle. At the same time, the filings show he sold off millions of dollars’ worth of other tech equities in February, indicating significant portfolio reshuffling during the quarter.
Conflict concerns and unanswered questions
The broader pattern has reignited a long running debate about whether a sitting president should be permitted to hold individual stocks, particularly in sectors where administration policy can directly affect valuations. Palantir, which specializes in AI-powered defense and intelligence software, has been actively positioning itself to benefit from the administration’s military modernization agenda, making the relationship between the company and the White House especially complex.
Ethics watchdogs and lawmakers have long called for stricter financial disclosure rules and divestment requirements for presidents. For now, however, no rules technically prohibited Trump from holding or trading Palantir stock, and the White House has pushed back against any suggestion of impropriety.
Whether regulators, Congress, or federal investigators choose to examine the trades further remains to be seen. What is clear is that the overlap between the purchases, the public praise, and the subsequent price movement has placed Trump‘s investment disclosures at the center of a politically charged conversation that is unlikely to fade quickly.