President Donald Trump took direct aim at Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Wednesday, slamming the conservative lawmaker as a “second-tier senator” for sponsoring legislation to ban congressional stock trading—legislation Trump claims plays into Democratic hands.

“I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It’s a great Bill for her, and her ‘husband,’ but so bad for our Country! … I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”

That public rebuke came just hours after Hawley helped shepherd the bill through a Senate committee, a move aimed at curbing insider trading among lawmakers—something critics say has become rampant on both sides of the aisle.

Appearing Wednesday night on Jesse Watters Primetime, Hawley faced the insult head-on.

“Are you a second-tier senator?” Watters asked bluntly.

“Well, that’s not the worst thing that’s been said about me today,” Hawley responded coolly, before revealing he had spoken to Trump directly that evening. “He reiterated to me he wants to see a ban on stock trading by people like Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress.”

Hawley doubled down on the bill’s intent and targeted the former House Speaker directly: “Pelosi shouldn’t just be investigated—she should be prosecuted,” Hawley said. “You shouldn’t be able to go up to Congress and get rich by trading on information that only you have and not members of the public.”

When pressed further on Trump’s accusation, Hawley suggested the president may have been misled by critics of the bill who claimed it would require Trump to sell personal assets. “Not the case at all,” Hawley said. “The president and the vice president and all their assets are totally exempted.”

Hawley closed with a stark defense of the bill, named the PELOSI Act—an acronym for “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments.” “It is named for her because she is the poster child for this kind of behavior,” he said. “It ought to be illegal and it ought to be prosecutable.”

“I’ve supported this for years,” he said. “It’s time Congress cleaned up its act.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)