Trump bought up to $5M of stock in Taser company right before $220M ICE bid

Trump bought up to $5M of stock in Taser company right before $220M ICE bid Police technology manufacturer stands to benefit from administration’s plans to massively expand immigration enforcement - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments President Donald Trump purchased as much as $5 million in stock in law enforcement technology company Axon before Immigration and Customs Enforcement proposed a $220 million contract that was likely to go to the company, which makes widely used police body cameras and Taser stun guns. Axon’s share price soon spiked, potentially netting the president hundreds of thousands of dollars in gains from a company impacted by his administration’s agenda. On February 10, the president bought shares in Axon valued between $1 million and $5 million, according to federal financial disclosures. Two weeks later, ICE announced it was looking to purchase nearly 18,000 energy weapons to add to its existing stock of Tasers, part of an up to five-year, $220 million contract. In the week after the solicitation, Axon’s stock jumped by more than 34 percent, according to a CNBC analysis. “The concern is that [Trump] bought into a company whose business could grow if his own administration expands immigration enforcement,” Jordan Libowitz of nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told the outlet. The president continued to buy and sell shares in Axon throughout February and March, and he appears to have retained at least a six-figure stake in the company, according to the financial disclosures, which cover the first three months of 2026. The White House said there were no conflicts of interest surrounding the potential contract, which has not been awarded yet. “This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement toThe Independent. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public.” She pointed to a prior statement on X from the president’s son Eric Trump. He said in May that the president’s holdings are “maintained exclusively in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions.” “Neither President Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization has any role in selecting, directing, approving, influencing or soliciting specific investments,” the statement added. The Independent has requested comment from Axon and the Department of Homeland Security about the contract and the president’s trades. In the first quarter of this year, the president disclosed making trades worth at least $220 million, dealmaking that critics say is inappropriate and ethically suspect. The president has made trades in companies including Oracle, Meta, Nvidia, and Apple, whose businesses are strongly impacted by White House trade and regulatory policy. At the same time, those companies or their top executives have all donated to the president’s projects, such as his inauguration, White House ballroom, and America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. The president has cultivated particularly close ties to the billionaire Ellison family. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison gave roughly $45 million to groups supporting the 2024 Trump campaign, The Wall Street Journal reports, and Oracle has since sponsored the Trump-aligned Freedom 250 group. The Trump administration has tapped Oracle as a key partner on a $500 billion AI data center project, and the Department of Justice recently cleared Ellison’s son David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, to complete his $81 billion takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. The president’s sons, as well as those of his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have also been part of deals boosted by the administration. The Trump and Lutnick families have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively partnering with the federal government on mining deals, which stand to benefit from more than $8.9 billion dollars in federal support, according to a New York Times analysis. The president and his family also have a growing, highly opaque cryptocurrency empire that has helped the president increase his net worth by $1.4 billion since returning to office. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] POLICE SPECIAL RESPONSETEAM