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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., should be investigated for insider trading, citing her stock market performance during her time in Congress.
“Nancy Pelosi should be investigated. She has the highest return of anybody, practically in the history of Wall Street, save a few,” Trump told reporters.
“How did that happen? She knows exactly what’s gonna happen. She buys stock and then the stock goes up after the announcement’s made,” he continued.
Trump’s remarks came as a Senate committee advanced the PELOSI Act, a bill that would ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading individual stocks. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was named after Pelosi, the former House speaker, whose husband’s stock transactions have drawn public attention.
“We have an opportunity here today to do something that the public has wanted us to do for decades, and that is to ban members of Congress from profiting on information that, frankly, only members of Congress have,” Hawley said during the committee hearing.
Despite Hawley’s sponsorship, all other Republicans on the panel voted against the measure. Some GOP lawmakers argued the bill would unfairly penalize wealthy lawmakers and discourage them from entering public service, according to Politico.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, D-Ohio, criticized the hearing as a political stunt.
“It is important for us to restore faith in our institutions, but to just put a vote out there, when we have literally no idea what we’re voting for, is gross incompetence,” Moreno told Politico. “This is the most absurd process I’ve ever seen.”
Trump later on Wednesday blasted Hawley in a post to Truth Social.
“Why would one ‘Republican,’ Senator Josh Hawley from the Great State of Missouri, join with all of the Democrats to block a Review, sponsored by Senator Rick Scott, and with the support of almost all other Republicans, of Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Trading over the last 25 years. The information was inappropriately released just minutes before the Vote — Very much like SABOTAGE!” Trump said.