New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who sits on key intelligence and financial services committees, traded up to $104 million in defense contractor stocks through a third-party firm in 2024, fueling ongoing debates about conflicts of interest and the need for a Congressional stock trading ban.
Gottheimer, a Wall Street darling who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, is widely known as Republican President Donald Trump’s favorite Democrat in Congress.
Gottheimer traded more stocks of Pentagon contractors than any other member of Congress in 2024, according to disclosure data. The companies involved include Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, and IBM—entities listed on Defense and Security Monitor’s Top 100 Defense Contractors index.
Gottheimer has stated that his trades are managed by a third-party financial firm, asserting, “I literally have no idea what they do.”
His activities, however, have drawn scrutiny as Congress continues debating whether lawmakers should be allowed to trade individual stocks while in office.
Gottheimer has earned a reputation as a ‘Vichy Democrat’ with strong ties to financial and business interests, who frequently collaborates with Republicans as leader of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
The Problem Solvers Caucus often advocates for ‘centrist compromises’ that align with conservative priorities, such as tax policies favorable to corporations and opposition to certain progressive economic reforms.
This dynamic has positioned Gottheimer as a polarizing figure: admired by centrists and conservatives for his deal-making and criticized by progressives for being too aligned with Republican and corporate interests.
The debate around stock trading by members of Congress is not new but has gained traction due to heightened public and media attention.
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reported that at least 37 lawmakers or their relatives traded $24 million to $113 million in shares of Pentagon contractors in 2024.
Eight of them held positions on committees directly overseeing defense policy, granting them access to intelligence that could influence stock market outcomes.
The report noted that Gottheimer accounted for the majority of these transactions, particularly involving Microsoft stock, which received $414 million in Department of Defense contracts in 2023.
His position on intelligence and financial services committees places him in a unique position to access sensitive information regarding national security spending.
The lawmaker executed trades worth nearly $40 million in Microsoft options, a volume that raised eyebrows owing to Gottheimer’s prior employment at Microsoft, where he served as General Manager of Advertising and Strategy.
The transactions were evenly split into eight trades—four purchases and four sales—with each transaction valued at up to $5 million. The sales involved call options with strike prices of $240, $235, and two at $230. Meanwhile, the purchases were call options with strike prices of $240, two at $230, and one at $225.
Call options are financial contracts that convey the right but not the obligation to buy a stock at a specified ‘strike price’ within a specific period.
“Gottheimer may have faked his Spotify Wrapped — fabricating an image to make him look like a Bruce Springsteen superfan — but he can’t fake his way out of being crowned the most avid trader in Congress,” wrote Nick Cleveland-Stout, a researcher at the Quincy Institute.
There is nothing fake about Gottheimer’s allegiance to big money or his opposition to progressive, pro-worker policies.
In 2020, Gottheimer trashed the presidential candidacy of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders saying, “To win in November, we need someone who will bring us together under a big tent and protect the Democratic majority in the House — not burn the house down.” He instead endorsed billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose past is plagued with sexism, racism and a commitment to corporate donors over the American people.
This is not the first time Congressional stock trading has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.
Lawmakers’ financial transactions became a focal point during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when several high-profile senators faced allegations of insider trading. Although the Justice Department ultimately dropped probes into figures like Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jim Inhofe, public anger over the practice has persisted.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who relentlessly assailed Rep. Tom Malinowski to defeat the Democrat during his 2020 rematch campaign, came in at number five for defense stock trading, with between $106,000 and $365,000 worth of shares in Pentagon contractors while sitting on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Efforts to curb such trading have gained bipartisan support. Sen. Jon Ossoff has been a leading advocate for legislation requiring members of Congress, along with their families, to place assets into blind trusts.
“We’re umpires in the game, and you don’t let umpires bet on the outcome,” Ossoff said, emphasizing the need for stricter rules to avoid conflicts of interest.
The proposed Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, introduced by Ossoff and other lawmakers, would prohibit members of Congress from trading individual stocks. The act cleared a Senate committee in July but has yet to reach the floor for a full vote.
President Joe Biden expressed support for such measures, stating, “I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money.”
With wealthy Democrats like Gottheimer cashing in on their public service positions, it is challenging to contest greed exhibited by Republicans like Trump, who launched a cryptocurrency meme coin named $TRUMP through his company CIC Digital LLC, which quickly surged to a market valuation exceeding $5 billion within hours.
Trump’s company owned 80% of the coin’s supply, leading to significant personal financial gain in a venture criticized by ethics watchdogs, who highlight potential violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, considering that foreign governments may purchase it.
Despite growing support for reform, resistance remains. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who also engaged in significant defense stock trading in 2024, has argued that limiting lawmakers’ ability to trade would deter talented individuals from seeking public office.
As public pressure mounts, Congress faces increasing calls to reconcile its role as a policymaker with ethical concerns about financial conflicts of interest. Whether bipartisan efforts will lead to meaningful reform remains an open question.