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Krishnamoorthi seeks investigation into Trump officials’ use of war intelligence

He urged to convene a public hearing to review financial disclosures, examining potential conflicts of interest, and requiring testimony from officials under oath.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi / REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Raja Krishnamoorthi said on April 10 that he has asked House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to open an investigation into whether senior Trump administration officials profited from nonpublic information tied to the ongoing war in Iran.

In the letter dated April 10, Krishnamoorthi requested a preliminary review and, if warranted, a full oversight and conflict-of-interest investigation into financial activities of senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Special Envoy Jared Kushner. He cited concerns that officials with access to sensitive national security decisions could have engaged in financial activity that benefited from those developments.

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Krishnamoorthi pointed to reports that a broker acting on Hegseth’s behalf at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February regarding a multimillion-dollar investment in the iShares U.S. Defense Industrials Active ETF. The outreach came in the weeks before U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran. According to the reports cited, the investment did not proceed because the fund was not yet available on Morgan Stanley’s platform.



The letter also raised concerns about Kushner’s compliance with financial disclosure rules. It said Kushner reportedly failed to file a required public financial disclosure within 30 days of his appointment and has played a central role in diplomatic negotiations involving the Middle East. Krishnamoorthi noted that similar conflict-of-interest questions arose during the first Trump administration.

He further cited reports alleging that individuals used prediction markets to profit from anticipated military actions. One example referenced a user gaining nearly $500,000 after correctly predicting the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. Other users allegedly wagered on the timing of U.S. strikes on Iran.

The Department of Defense has publicly disputed aspects of the reports and called for at least one outlet to retract its coverage, the letter said. Still, Krishnamoorthi argued that the allegations raise broader concerns about whether ethics safeguards are sufficient to prevent officials, or those acting on their behalf, from trading on nonpublic information.

Krishnamoorthi urged Comer to convene a public hearing and outlined steps for the committee, including reviewing financial disclosures, examining potential conflicts of interest, and requiring testimony from Hegseth, Kushner, and other officials under oath.

“As American servicemembers actively risk their lives in an ongoing war, the public must have absolute confidence that national security decisions are guided solely by the national interest,” the letter said.

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