Last year, Environment Secretary Jennifer Granholm violated the STOCK Act, which compels top federal authorities to disclose any asset transfers within a 45-day period.
All the Evidence
According to government disclosure filings first published by Business Insider, the dates of Granholm’s stock trades spanned from April to late October.
Granholm, on the other hand, did not reveal any of them before mid-December. This was a full six months after the period for reporting the sale had passed.
According to Granholm’s declarations, the purchases include stocks of the real estate company Redfin worth $16,000 and $75,000.
She also sold stock in Uber, a ride-hailing firm, for up to $50,000, and Invesco, a financial services firm, for up to $50,000.
The research comes as Congress weighs new stock trading rules, particularly for individual company shares, rather than asset classes that track market moves as a whole.
Pelosi now says she's open to banning stock trades by members of Congress after she's already guilty of insider trading… Investigate Pelosi
— Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) January 20, 2022
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, dodged questions about whether politicians should be permitted to trade stocks in specific companies, given their limited expertise of certain sectors at the end of last year.
During a press conference, Pelosi stated, “We are a free market system. They ought to be able to take part in that.”
Pelosi, on the other hand, seemed to change her mind on Thursday. She expressed “great trust in the honesty of her members,” but indicated she would be open to new restrictions.
“I always come down on the side of trusting our people,” she said. “If someone is giving the appearance that they are performing insider trading, that is a Justice Department concern, and it has no purpose in any of this.”
“I just don’t get into the blanket mindset of ‘we can’t do it because we simply can not be trusted,” she said. “However, if individuals want to do it, I’m fine with it.”
President Biden appeared to be avoiding the discussion entirely. Biden would enable Congress members to set their own share trading restrictions, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
I've partnered with @SenOssoff on a bill that'll prevent members of Congress from buying and selling stocks.
Let's end corrupt insider trading once and for all.
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) January 20, 2022
It’s Rife in Democrats’ Ranks
“When the president was a lawmaker, he didn’t trade-specific equities, and that’s how we conducted things,” Psaki said.
“He also thinks everybody should be held to a higher level, but he will defer to Congress’ direction in determining what that benchmark should be.”
GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has recently expressed interest in instituting an “outright ban” on politicians possessing or trading equities if Republicans reclaim the leadership in this year’s midterm elections.
“McCarthy told us his thinking on this front is in the initial stages,” Punchbowl News wrote, “and he hasn’t yet determined what kind of constraints there may be on share trading or holdings.”
“One suggestion is to require legislators to invest solely in professionally managed equity funds.”
“Another suggestion being considered by the Republican leadership is to prohibit members from owning stock in firms or industries that their committees regulate.”
