Last month House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise comment by defending a comment.
“We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” the San Francisco Democrat said.
Her comment was made in response to a question as to why members of Congress are not being sanctioned or prosecuted for insider trading, which was banned by a 2012 federal law.
Now we know why Pelosi thinks that.
The New York Post reported recently that Pelosi has made $30 million by trading on Big Tech stocks. The Post noted that over the holidays Pelosi made bank with deals for stock in Google, Salesforce, Roblox, and Disney.
The Post also pointed out that Pelosi is “scrambling to quash bipartisan efforts to ban stock trading by Congressional lawmakers” – one of the few things that unites the progressive lefties on the Democratic side and Republican right-wingers.
Pelosi’s office defended her past comments.
Her spokesman told the Post that Pelosi does not own any stocks, and the trades in question were the work of her husband, Paul.
“The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.” the spokesman said.
“While there’s no smoking gun showing that the Pelosi’s have traded using insider info,” the Post pointed out, “their portfolio has often outperformed the S&P 500, causing critics to question whether the speaker and other stock-picking politicians have the public’s best interest in mind when legislating.”
In 2019, the Pelosis beat S& P by 5 percent, and did even better in 2020, besting the whole market by 14 percent.
“Capital gains and dividends from their holdings in just five Big Tech firms — Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — reaped the Pelosis at least $5.6 million and up to $30.4 million between 2007 and 2020,” the Post added, citing an analysis of publicly available disclosures that was shared with the paper.
Pelosi is one of the richest people in Congress, with an overall net worth of $106 million.
Walter Shaub, the former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics during both the Obama and Trump administrations, and a repeated critic of former President Donald Trump, told the Post Pelosi’s excuse was “absolutely insulting.”
“The idea that the stocks are in her husband’s name is a complete red herring,” Shaub said.
“Unless members of Congress are willing to wear microphones around the clock when they’re having dinner with their spouses and going to bed, the public has no way of knowing what information they intentionally or inadvertently shared.”
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Tampa Area Local News, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GoFundMe or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. It’s Free And Coming To Apple Users Soon