President Donald Trump’s disclosed oil and gas stock holdings have risen in estimated value by millions of dollars since the war with Iran began in late February, even as investment accounts associated with him continued buying and selling energy shares throughout the conflict, according to financial disclosures reviewed by CNBC and CBS News. A CNBC analysis found Trump’s nine largest oil and gas positions gained an estimated $1.5 million to $4.4 million in paper value between the eve of the war on February 27 and August 31, while a separate analysis by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee put the increase in his broader oil and gas portfolio at up to $15.5 million over a similar period. The figures are estimates of portfolio appreciation, not confirmed realized profit, and the White House says Trump does not personally direct the trades, which it says are handled entirely by independent financial managers.
Trump’s Energy Holdings
Trump’s 2025 annual financial disclosure reported holdings in nine major oil and gas companies: Exxon Mobil (valued at $3.18 million to $12.45 million), Chevron ($2.6 million to $11.35 million), Occidental Petroleum ($1.02 million to $5.08 million), Kinder Morgan ($1.17 million to $5.46 million), ConocoPhillips ($647,000 to $1.43 million), Valero Energy ($348,000 to $795,000), Phillips 66 ($383,000 to $896,000), Marathon Petroleum ($353,000 to $745,000) and Williams Companies ($418,000 to $945,000), according to the Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic staff analysis of the filing. Combined, those nine holdings were valued at $12.5 million to $45.6 million at the end of 2025. Federal disclosure rules require officials to report only broad value ranges rather than exact figures, so precise totals are not available. The holdings are part of a far larger portfolio; CBS News reported Trump’s overall net worth at more than $6 billion as of late August, and the energy positions represent a small share of that total.
How Much Did the Holdings Gain?
Two separate outlets produced two different estimates using different methods, and the figures should not be combined or treated as the same calculation. CNBC’s analysis, published September 9, tracked only Trump’s nine largest oil and gas positions, using share-price movements from the February 27 market close through the August 31 close, and estimated a gain of $1.5 million to $4.4 million. That figure represents unrealized, estimated paper appreciation applied to the disclosed value ranges — not confirmed profit, since it does not account for trades made during the period.
The Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic staff, in a report released August 24, used a different window and a broader scope: it assumed Trump held his year-end 2025 positions unchanged and calculated that his combined oil and gas holdings rose roughly 39 percent in value on average through August 17, moving from an estimated $12.5 million–$45.6 million to $17.2 million–$61.1 million — a gain of $4.6 million to $15.5 million. The JEC said the increase reflects rising energy-sector stock prices during the war and explicitly noted its estimate did not account for any trades Trump made after his 2025 year-end disclosure. Both analyses describe portfolio appreciation tied to rising energy markets, not money Trump has been confirmed to have realized through sales.
Trading Continued Through the War
Financial disclosure filings show investment accounts associated with Trump continued actively trading energy stocks throughout the war. CNBC found the nine largest oil and gas holdings showed buying activity and at least 23 sell transactions through June 29, the most recent date covered by disclosed trades as of its analysis. On March 2, the first trading day after the initial U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, the accounts reported purchases in eight major oil and gas companies, including between $100,001 and $250,000 in Exxon shares. On March 23, after Trump delayed threatened strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure and Brent crude fell nearly 11 percent, the accounts reported 16 oil and gas purchases and no sales, worth a combined $163,000 to $570,000, including Exxon, Chevron and Phillips 66 shares.
CBS News reported that Trump disclosed more than 1,000 additional stock transactions in a filing covering June 2026, including sales and purchases of Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Valero Energy shares and a purchase of Occidental Petroleum stock. Separately, Trump’s accounts executed roughly 3,600 total securities trades across all sectors in the first three months of 2026 alone, worth between $212 million and $695 million, according to a CBS News review of the broader portfolio. It remains unclear whether Trump personally selected any of these individual trades; available reporting attributes the trading to accounts managed by outside financial institutions.
What Happened Around Key War Developments?
Financial disclosures show at least one trade that occurred on the same day as a major war announcement. On April 7, a Trump investment account reported selling between $500,001 and $1 million in Exxon shares; roughly two and a half hours after markets closed that day, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, and Exxon shares opened more than 6 percent lower the next morning, according to CBS News and CNBC. CNBC estimated that if the shares sold had been held since before the war, they would have carried a paper gain of roughly $35,000 to $70,000 since February 27, in addition to avoiding the next day’s decline. Available reporting does not establish why the sale was made on that date or whether it was connected to the ceasefire announcement; the White House has said Trump does not direct the timing of individual trades.
What Trump and the White House Have Said
White House spokesman Davis Ingle has repeatedly said Trump has no role in the trading. “Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold,” Ingle told CNBC. “All investment decisions are made entirely by independent managers. There are no conflicts of interest.” Ingle told CBS News the portfolio is “maintained in discretionary accounts and invested through computer-based model portfolios that automatically replicate recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000.” The Trump Organization has separately told CNBC that Trump’s investments are held in fully discretionary accounts with independent financial institutions holding “sole and exclusive authority” over decisions, and that Trump and his family receive no advance notice of trades.
Trump has publicly criticized the same oil companies whose shares are held in his disclosed portfolio. Asked about record profits at Exxon and Chevron, Trump told reporters in early August, according to CBS News, that the companies were “making too much money.” Trump has not placed his assets in a blind trust; federal law does not require presidents to do so or prohibit them from owning individual stocks.
Questions About Conflicts of Interest
Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee said in their August report that Trump’s energy holdings benefited from policies tied to the war he oversees. “These companies’ profits and stock values are rising because Trump’s reckless war in Iran has caused gas and oil prices to skyrocket,” the committee’s Democratic staff wrote, estimating that major oil and gas producers posted a combined $125.2 billion in profit in the first half of 2026 and that Americans spent an estimated $71.5 billion more on gasoline since the war began.
Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told CBS News that Trump has a duty to avoid conflicts of interest regardless of who executes the trades, saying it does not matter whether the president trades the stocks himself. Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International U.S., told CNBC that Trump’s ceasefire efforts intersected with investment activity his accounts were pursuing at the time. These are characterizations offered by ethics and anti-corruption watchdog groups, not findings from an official investigation, and the White House disputes that any conflict exists.
Is There Evidence of Insider Trading?
No reliable reporting reviewed for this story has established evidence of insider trading, and no official investigation into Trump’s oil and gas trades has been confirmed. CNBC reported that its own analysis found no indication Trump or his financial advisers acted on advance, nonpublic knowledge of his wartime decisions, no evidence his policy choices were influenced by his personal holdings, and no evidence he personally directed specific transactions. Congressional Democrats have said they would pursue further scrutiny of Trump’s stock trading if they win control of either chamber of Congress in the November midterm elections, but that would represent a future action rather than a current or completed investigation. What exists today is a set of watchdog and lawmaker questions about the appearance of conflicts, not documented evidence of illegal conduct.
What Remains Unknown
It remains unclear whether Trump personally knew about any individual trade before it occurred, including the April 7 Exxon sale that preceded his ceasefire announcement by roughly two and a half hours. Because federal disclosures report only value ranges rather than exact purchase and sale prices or share counts, precise realized profit or loss on any individual transaction cannot be calculated from the public record. The most recent trade disclosures reviewed by CNBC covered activity only through June 29, meaning more recent trading, if any, had not been publicly disclosed as of the reporting reviewed for this story. No official investigation, congressional subpoena, or enforcement action targeting the trades has been confirmed as of September 26.Written by Hamna Arshad