12/30
'We're a free market economy,' Pelosi told reporters during a news conference on Dec. 15. 'They [lawmakers] should be able to participate in that'
Two days later, Paul Pelosi bought stock in Alphabet worth between $500,001 and $1 million
He also bought shares in Disney worth between $100,001 and $250,000
Over the course of five days, Paul Pelosi purchased stock worth anywhere between $1,750,007 and $3,600,000
Just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back on the idea that lawmakers should not be able to make individual stock trades while in office, her husband Paul bought shares in Google's parent company Alphabet, Disney and Salesforce worth millions.
'We're a free market economy,' Pelosi told reporters during a news conference on Dec. 15. 'They [lawmakers] should be able to participate in that.'
Two days later, Paul Pelosi bought stock in Alphabet worth between $500,001 and $1 million. He also bought shares in Disney worth between $100,001 and $250,000.
Three days after that on Dec. 20, he made two separate purchases in Salesforce - one worth between $100,001 and $250,000 and another between $500,001 and $1 million, and one purchase of Roblox worth between $250,001 and $500,000.
As Nancy Pelosi pushed back on the idea that lawmakers should not be able to make individual stock trades while in office, her husband Paul bought shares in Google's parent company Alphabet and Salesforce worth millions. +4
As Nancy Pelosi pushed back on the idea that lawmakers should not be able to make individual stock trades while in office, her husband Paul bought shares in Google's parent company Alphabet and Salesforce worth millions.
On Dec. 21, he purchased stock in Micron Technology worth between $250,001 and $500,000 and on Dec. 22, there was a purchase of Reoff XX worth $50,001-$100,000.
Over the course of five days, Paul Pelosi purchased stock worth anywhere between $1,750,007 and $3,600,000.
Paul Pelosi has proven himself a prolific stock trader, so much so that social investing app Iris allows users to track their trades and be notified every time he makes a purchase so that they can do the same.
'Every single stock she [Pelosi, through her husband] has bought in the last two years has gone up significantly,' Christopher Josephs, cofounder of Iris, told Yahoo.
And popular Twitter account @
nancyTracker, which tracked Pelosi's investments, was banned from the social media network.
+4
+4
Asked about the recent trades, Pelosi's chief of staff and spokesperson Drew Hammill said that they had all been made by the speaker's husband and she did not own any stocks herself. '
The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,' Hammill told DailyMail.com.
He also pointed to 2012 legislation, the STOCK Act, which prohibits members of Congress from using 'any nonpublic information derived from the individual's position ... or gained from performance of the individual's duties, for personal benefit.'
It also required lawmakers to report any publicly disclose any transaction of stocks, bond, commodities futures, and other securities within 45 days, rather than once per year.
'The STOCK Act exists to shine a bright light on trades by Members of Congress. Sunlight is the best disinfectant,' Hammill said.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for a ban on lawmakers holding and trading stocks during their time in office. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently called the notion that lawmakers can trade individual stock 'ludicrous.'
'The access and influence we have should be exercised for the public interest, not our profit,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter earlier this month.
Walter Shaub, director of the U.S. Office of Government and Ethics under President Obama, said that Pelosi is '100% wrong' for saying members of Congress should be able to hold stock because the U.S. is a 'free market economy.'
'GOOD GRIEF! NO! She's wrong. She is 100% wrong. Nobody put a gun to anyone's head and said "you must be a member of Congress." Want to trade stocks? Do it. Want to be a member of Congress? Do it. But you have NO BUSINESS doing both! This is the opposite of government ethics,' Shaub wrote on Twitter.
Pelosi is far from alone in her husband's stock trades - more than 220 other representatives and senators, around 40% of Congress, held together at least $225 million in stock assets during 2020, according to an Insider investigation +4
Pelosi is far from alone in her husband's stock trades - more than 220 other representatives and senators, around 40% of Congress, held together at least $225 million in stock assets during 2020, according to an Insider investigation
RELATED ARTICLES
Previous
1
Next
Ethics investigations launched into Republican congressman...
Federal Reserve BANS its policymakers and senior staff from...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share
Pelosi is far from alone in her husband's stock trades - more than 220 other representatives and senators, around 40% of Congress, held together at least $225 million in stock assets during 2020, according to an Insider investigation.
An Insider investigation found that 49 members and 182 congressional staffers were late to disclose trades from January through September 2021, violating the STOCK Act.
In 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill to ban members of Congress and White House staff from owning individual stocks, and reintroduced the legislation in 2020.
In March of this year, a bipartisan bill with support from more than a dozen in the House and Senate that would do the same was introduced.
In early 2020 a number of lawmakers came under fire for making trades after a private briefing on the impending devastation of coronavirus. None were criminally charged, but Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., lost his spot on the Senate Intelligence Committee and is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
