NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Call him the Trader in Chief.<\/p>\n
Recent presidents have stayed away from trading stocks in companies whose fortunes they could lift or scuttle with the stroke of a pen, but Donald Trump smashed that precedent in the first quarter of this year with more than 3,600 buy and sell orders, many of them involving companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions<\/a> as head of the government.<\/p>\n Among the Trump trades in a recent report filed with a federal ethics agency was as much as $6 million in Nvidia, whose advanced chips Trump approved for sale to China<\/a> last year. His portfolio also scooped up stocks of several U.S. military suppliers impacted by the Iran war, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. <\/p>\n \u201cIf he were defense secretary, he would be committing a crime,\u201d said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics adviser in the George W. Bush administration and a big critic of congressional trading, too. \u201cTechnically he can do this, but it is a fundamental breach of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. law bans federal employees from holding financial assets that could be impacted by their policy work, but there is a carveout for the president.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Trump family business said the president\u2019s portfolio is handled by third parties that have \u201csole and exclusive\u201d authority to make investment decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments,\u201d spokesperson Kimberly Benza said in a statement. \u201cThey receive no advance notice of trading activity and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio management.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethics officials have pointed out that just the knowledge of what\u2019s in his portfolio is problematic because it could impact the president\u2019s decisions on everything from health policy to government contracting to war.<\/p>\n The stock trading report filed with the federal Office of Government Ethics runs more than 100 pages, and shows possibly more than $100 million changing hands over three months as stocks were bought and sold at rapid fire pace \u2014 an average of 50 trades every day markets were open.<\/p>\n The report shows more purchases than sales, but the precise ratio is impossible to determine because exact figures for each transaction are not given, just ranges.<\/p>\n Trump has traditionally had very little invested in the stock market<\/a> relative to his net worth, but that could be changing along with his ballooning wealth, which has included a big cash infusion. <\/p>\n