Recent financial disclosures have renewed scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s personal investments, raising fresh questions among ethics experts about potential conflicts of interest as major regulatory decisions loom. (CNN)
According to a disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics, President Trump made a series of investments between mid-November and mid-December, including purchases of bonds linked to Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. The transactions were reported shortly after the announcement of a proposed multibillion-dollar deal under which Netflix plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s core studio and streaming assets. While the disclosure does not specify exact amounts, it indicates that Trump invested up to $2 million in bonds connected to the two media groups.
The filing lists 191 financial transactions overall, encompassing both purchases and sales of securities as well as holdings in corporate and municipal bonds that together may amount to tens of millions of dollars. Because the disclosure system uses broad value ranges, the precise scale of individual transactions remains unclear. In addition to media-related investments, the report shows purchases of debt instruments associated with companies such as Boeing, General Motors, Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret.
The White House has said that Trump’s financial assets are held in discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party institutions, with investment decisions executed automatically through index-based models. According to officials, neither the president nor his family has any role in directing or influencing specific trades. At the beginning of his term, the Trump Organization also announced that Trump would have no involvement in managing his business interests, although the arrangement did not require divestment or recusal from matters that could affect his holdings.
Despite these assurances, ethics specialists argue that the timing and nature of the investments raise legitimate concerns. The proposed Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, valued at approximately $72 billion plus debt, is expected to face regulatory scrutiny, and Trump has publicly indicated that he intends to be directly involved in decisions surrounding the transaction. That overlap between financial interests and official responsibilities, experts say, creates at least the appearance of a conflict.
Former White House ethics counsel Richard Painter has described the investments as another example of unresolved ethical risk, adding that modern presidents have typically taken voluntary steps to distance themselves from potential conflicts even though federal conflict-of-interest statutes do not formally apply to the office. Similar concerns have been echoed by academic ethics specialists, who stress that regulatory decisions should be made solely in the public interest, without any connection to a president’s personal financial exposure.
The situation is further complicated by ongoing turbulence in the media sector. Warner Bros. Discovery has announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies in 2026, with Netflix intending to acquire the studio-focused entity once the separation is completed. The group housing CNN and other cable networks would remain independent. Efforts by Paramount to block the Netflix deal through a hostile takeover bid were rejected earlier this month, and Warner Bros. Discovery has reaffirmed its preference for Netflix as a buyer.
Trump’s broader financial ties have already drawn attention in other contexts, including cryptocurrency-related ventures and relationships between key industry figures and political allies. Together, these developments are intensifying debate over whether existing ethics safeguards are sufficient to prevent conflicts at the highest level of government, particularly when presidential involvement in regulatory outcomes intersects with personal investment portfolios.