Does a viral image of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi wearing "Don't ban insider trading" lapel sticker show what she wore to the 2026 State of the Union speech by President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: A picture of her was digitally edited to change the words on her sticker. The real badge worn by the former speaker of the House during the 2026 State of the Union address said, "Release the ◼️ files".
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on February 24, 2026. It opened:
We disagree, Nancy!
The post shared an image of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi wearing a badge that read:
Don't ban insider trading.
This is what the picture looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of x.com/CPA)
The image was a cropped screenshot from coverage of the State of the Union address (archived here) delivered by U.S. President Donald Trump on February 24, 2026. In the full recording (archived here) on the C-SPAN website, Pelosi appears at the 1:25:10 mark. As we see below, her badge says, "Release the ◼️ files":
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video at s-span.org)
The words on Pelosi's badge referenced materials related to investigations into the activities of pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. They were published on the Department of Justice website with extensive redactions, and some of the files were suspected to be missing (archived here).
On February 25, 2026, Reuters published another video (archived here, here and here) on Instagram. In it, reactions of several Democratic lawmakers to the president's address were edited together. The video was published under the following caption:
Democratic lawmakers wore pins calling for the release of the Epstein files, a reference to the scandal surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as President Trump delivered his State of the Union address.
In that clip, which begins with the shot of Pelosi, the content of her badge still says nothing about insider trading:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at instagram.com)
During the State of the Union address, Trump said at the 44:05 mark:
...we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market. Let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.
They stood up for that. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Did Nancy Pelosi stand up, if she's here? Doubt it. Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.
Among those who applauded during the remarks about this piece of legislation were several Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren. It's unclear whether Pelosi was one of them. According to Politico (archived here), she did, but the C-SPAN video doesn't have a close-up of her at that moment to confirm how she responded to the president's remarks.
The "Stop Insider Trading Act" bill (archived here) would ban lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children from making new purchases of publicly traded stocks.
Pelosi, who once said that members of Congress and their spouses "should be able to participate" in stock trading, was criticized for having a large portfolio managed by her husband, Paul Pelosi. As reported by the New York Times (archived here) in 2025, it reached a trade volume of $56.9 million over the previous three years.
In the summer of 2025, the former House speaker issued a statement (archived here) in support of another piece of legislation limiting the ability of members of Congress and their families to trade stocks.
