Trump publicly praised companies within days of buying their stocks

President Donald Trump publicly praised three major American corporations on the same day or the day after he had bought tens of thousands of dollars of their stocks, according to recently reported financial disclosures.

Trump’s first-quarter investment filings, submitted late this month to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, show that the president purchased stock of Apple, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Micron around the time he touted them in public remarks, either within a day of his purchase or that exact day.

By law, Trump is required to report trades over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction date, as mandated by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. However, he missed the 45-day deadline for many of his trades, some of which were made months ago. As a result, Trump was fined a standard $200 late-filing fee.

According to the president’s periodic transaction report, on March 11, Trump bought between $15,000