Pelosi’s Husband Cashes in Again
Either Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is one of the greatest stock traders on the face of the planet, or he is getting information from Nancy.
In the weeks leading up to Trump taking office, Pelosi made about $38 million in stock trades, including one little-known AI firm that blew up by more than 50%.
Paul Cashes in Again
Paul Pelosi has a rather amazing record when it comes to stock trades, so this was no surprise to see him cash in again as the Biden administration wound down.
Among the stocks he traded away were about $24 million in Apple stock and about $5 million in Nvidia, which makes AI chips.
Pelosi had also purchased $100,000 shares of options on Tempus AI, a little-known AI company, which ended up blowing up. Partly due to people finding out that Pelosi was involved in the stock.
In fact, there are now models out there that replicate Pelosi’s stock purchases, and those who are following it are being rewarded quite handsomely.
Not the First Time
For years, members of Congress have been cashing in on information they get through Congress and, more specifically, through their committees and sub-committees.
In the 2023 report, there were nearly two dozen members of Congress who outperformed the S&P, which traditionally does very well and had a 24.8% return in 2023.
The top performer was Rep. Brian Higgins (R-N.Y.), who had a 238.9% return on his investments.
Pelosi was actually ranked 7th, with a 65.5% return, with three Republicans following Higgins. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) at 122.2%, former Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) at 107.6%, and Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) at 105.6%.
In 2012, the STOCK Act was passed, which banned members of Congress from trading on non-public information, but does anyone reading this think that members of Congress are abiding by that law?
No Trades
I have always believed that members of Congress and their immediate family, which would cover spouses and children, should not be permitted to trade individual stocks in any sector where Congress has oversight.
I have zero issues with mutual funds, but when we have people on the Armed Forces Committee making a killing in weapons suppliers, I think we can all agree that something is amiss here.
There have been numerous attempts to have legislation passed that would ban congressional stock trades, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is taking another stab at it, announcing the TRUST Act.
The bill has significant bipartisan support, but I doubt it will be enough to have it passed, as more than half of Congress has rejected such legislation in the past. As I hinted above, there are just as many Republicans doing this as there are Democrats. And I would note, two names missing from the list of co-sponsors… Reps. Green and Rouzer.