20 March 2020

Inside Information

Yesterday, ProPublica broke the story (link here) that Republican Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina, a reliable supporter of Donald Trump, sold as much as $1.7 million in stock after a private, confidential briefing about the coronavirus only open to Senators where they received an early warning about dire consequences within the United States.

Later yesterday, The Daily Beast broke the story (link here) that another Republican Senator, Kelly Loeffler, another reliable Trump supporter, did the same thing.

Shortly after these senators dumped their stock, the market lost a third of its value in record time.

Did one or both of these people engage in insider trading, a felony that involves trading because of privileged information? It is a crime for people in Congress to trade on non-public information learned through official duties.

If they did break the law, hopefully they'll be prosecuted. And hopefully those prosecutions will not be blocked at the Justice Department for political reasons to protect two of Trump's friends.

The great irony to all this is that these two senators recently voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial. If it turns out one or both of them committed crime, that will speak volumes about the elected officials who absolved the President.

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