President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., should be investigated for insider trading.
"Nancy Pelosi should be investigated. She has the highest return of anybody, practically in the history of Wall Street, save a few," Trump said. "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."
Trump's comments come after a Senate committee voted to advance the PELOSI Act, which would ban sitting lawmakers and their spouses from trading stocks.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and named after Pelosi, the former House speaker whose husband's stock trades have come under scrutiny, Politico reported. There has been no evidence of any wrongdoing on their behalf.
"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.
All Republicans on the committee except Hawley voted against the bill, with Republicans arguing it would punish wealthy lawmakers and dissuade them from serving in Congress, Politico said.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, D-Ohio, dismissed the vote as a "publicity show."
"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."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said the legislation makes it a negative to make money.
"How many of you don't want to make money?" Scott said in the hearing room. "Anybody want to be poor?"
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.