In late January, Senators were briefed on the COVID-19 situation. The virus had, at that point, yet to be named a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Shortly following this briefing, several members of the Senate subsequently sold off millions of dollars of stocks they owned. They did this ahead of the massive plunge the stock market took when news of the virus began spreading.
As a result, Republican Senators Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler and Jim Inhofe, as well as Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, are all under close scrutiny for suspected insider trading.
Insider trading is a criminal act. It’s when someone with “insider” knowledge uses their unfair advantage when trading on the stock exchange.
While most Americans don’t use the stock market for much other than to invest in retirement or to make small investments in major companies, many wealthy individuals make (and lose) considerable sums of money on the exchange.
The four senators were found to be engaging in shady stock practices. They are all facing pressure to resign from the Senate, effective immediately, for their misconduct.
According to Tom Mentzer, Feinstein’s spokesman, the senator’s husband is to blame. He is the one who made the millions of dollars in stock selloffs for her.
“All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust, as they have been since she came to the Senate,” Mentzer wrote in a recent email. “She has no involvement in any of her husband’s financial decisions.”
Likewise, Inhofe claimed that he sold out of all of his stocks in 2018 in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety. “My adviser has been doing so faithfully since that time and I am not aware of or consulted about any transactions,” stated Inhofe.
Notably, Burr was one of only three senators to vote against the 2012 STOCK act. The act forbids members of congress from using their insider information for personal gain.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter Thursday night, reprimanding the senators for their behavior.
“It is stomach-churning that the first thoughts these Senators had to a dire & classified #COVID briefing was how to profit off this crisis,” the progressive representative wrote.
Charlie Kirk, conservative chair of Students for Trump, mirrored AOC’s outrage. He tweeted,
“I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat. If you trade with inside info to enrich yourself during a crisis you are a disgrace. Resign, apologize, and donate all earnings to families of victims…”
