Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) brought a giant picture of Carl Icahn, billionaire investor and adviser to Trump, to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. The stunt was part of Gutierrez’s effort to highlight a major stock trade, first reported by ThinkProgress, that Icahn executed just days before Trump announced steel tariffs.

Icahn sold over $30 million in stock in Manitowoc Company Inc. beginning on February 12, just a few days before Trump publicly announced he would impose stiff tariffs on imported steel. Monitowoc, which manufactures cranes and other heavy equipment, is highly dependent on steel. Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Monitowoc’s stock tanked. Icahn’s impeccably timed sale potentially saved him millions.

On March 8, Guiterrez wrote a letter to SEC chairman Jay Clayton, whom Icahn reportedly helped select, to demand a full investigation of Icahn’s transactions. In a speech on the House floor on Thursday, Guiterrez revealed that he has not yet received a response.


Guiterrez made it clear that he did not intend to drop the issue. “Here is a Trump insider making a gigantic decision on tens of millions of dollars and we’re just supposed to believe it’s a coincidence?” Guiterrez asked. “Sorry, but I’m not buying it.”

Also not buying it is Duke Law professor James Cox, who has studied insider trading for five decades and who literally wrote the book on corporate governance. Cox told ThinkProgress that Icahn’s sale was “awfully suspicious” and “unquestionably” warrants a federal investigation.

Meanwhile, the White House has refused to answer basic questions about Trump’s communications with Icahn prior to the stock sale. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked on March 5 about the last time Icahn and Trump spoke and dodged the question, saying she would have to “verify” the answer. Six days later, Sanders’ deputy, Raj Shah, was asked the same question and dodged again.

The key question, according to Cox, is whether Icahn received information from Trump that allowed him “to have a better insight of the possibility, if not likelihood, that Trump would impose these tariffs.” The question is not whether Icahn knew the exact date and specifics of the upcoming announcement — but whether he knew of anything that would have allowed him to reduce uncertainty.


On March 7, Icahn released a statement denying wrongdoing but skirting the issue of whether he was in contact with Trump or other White House officials. “Any suggestion that we had prior knowledge of the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariffs on steel imports is categorically untrue,” the statement read, in part.

Cox called Icahn’s statement “perfectly predictable, perfectly bland and devoid of anything other than conclusory statements.”