WASHINGTON, D.C.-We’ve heard many horror stories from the swamp in Washington, D.C., but today several U.S. Senators are now under fire for selling off their investment portfolios after a January 24th briefing about the perceived threat from the coronavirus on America’s economy.
According to The Hill, U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R), Kelly Loeffler (R), Diane Feinstein (D) and James Inhofe (R) attended a classified briefing in Washington on January 24th with the Trump Administration. The four engaged in a massive stock selloff over the next week.
Now, some are saying their actions contributed to the massive declines on Wall Street. That’s because of Loeffler’s husband, Jeff Spreecher, who also happens to be the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
The Daily Beast Reports, Loeffler reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus. The couple went on to sell over $1,000,000 in stock.
Loeffler denies that her stock trades later that day had anything to do with her top-secret coronavirus briefing with the Trump administration.
“This is a ridiculous and baseless attack. I do not make investment decisions for my portfolio. Investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband’s knowledge or involvement,” she said. Loeffler claims she didn’t know those stocks were sold until mid-February.
Diane Feinstein also sold off millions of dollars worth of stock before the outbreak. She and her husband sold between $1 million and $6 million in biotech stocks. The same pattern of panic selling ahead of the coronavirus outbreak happened with Senator James Inhoff and Richard Burr, each selling hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks.
Few in Washington have responded to this breaking story.
“Members of Congress should not be allowed to own individual stock,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We are here to serve the public, not to profiteer. It’s shocking that it’s even been allowed up to this point.”