In October, White House immigration adviser Jacalynne Klopp purchased stock in the natural gas company Comstock Energy Resources.
In March, the company announced an agreement, featured in a U.S.-Japan trade deal brokered by the Trump administration, to develop a natural gas generation hub for a massive new power project in Texas.
Klopp’s stock, according to a new financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics, is worth tens of thousands of dollars.
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But the Trump administration told NOTUS that Klopp, who serves as border czar Tom Homan’s top deputy, had no prior knowledge of the Japan trade deal.
Instead, Klopp’s husband — a lobbyist for the MAGA-connected firm Ballard Partners — worked with the couple’s financial adviser to purchase the stock after learning in a Wall Street Journal article that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was investing a billion dollars in the company, according to a White House official.
The Wall Street Journal profile was published on October 29, one day before Klopp and her husband purchased the stock. The article said that Jones, long a risk-taking wildcatter, strongly believed that Comstock could unlock natural gas potential in Texas where other companies had failed.
Klopp had no knowledge of the stock purchase until after it was made, has never been to Japan and is not involved in energy policy, a White House official said.
The framework of the U.S.-Japan trade deal solidified just a few days before Klopp and her husband purchased Comstock stock on October 30, according to her financial filing. Negotiations in Tokyo concluded on October 28. The Wall Street Journal profile of Comstock published on October 29.
Since Comstock went public with its participation in the Japan investment in March, the company’s stock price has increased about 12%.
The Trump administration has not been completely transparent with senior staff financial disclosures and delayed higher-level review for some disclosures, NOTUS previously reported. Some information about stock purchases was only published on the White House website after NOTUS inquired about their absence.
The Office of Government Ethics, which is responsible for enforcing financial transparency laws, lacks any real power to compel the Trump administration to disclose more.
In Klopp’s case, her assets beyond the Comstock purchase have not been publicly disclosed because she first worked at the Department of Homeland Security before moving to the White House. She is next scheduled to disclose comprehensive details about her personal finances later this year, according to a White House official.
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