Obama ethics chief calls Pelosi's support of lawmaker stock trading 'disgusting': the 'opposite' of ethics
By: Houston Keene (Fox News)
Rigging the system and changing the rules are a way of life for Congressional Democrats. If ethics are a problem for Democrats just rewrite the ethics the same way Democrats rewrite the history of their own party.
Nancy Pelosi is using the Clinton defense. If it's legal then it's ethical.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Former President Obama's ethics chief called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support of lawmakers trading stocks "disgusting" and the "opposite of government ethics."
Former director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Walter Shaub torched the speaker's backing of personal financial trading among lawmakers after Pelosi defended the practice Wednesday.
"We are a free market economy," Pelosi, D-Calif., said, responding to a question about members of Congress and their spouses being barred from personal trading. "They should be able to participate in that."
"What a disgusting comment," Shaub told Fox News Digital in an email. "This is the opposite of government ethics."
"Nobody kidnapped these members of Congress when they were private citizens, dragged them to Washington and forced them to be in Congress," Shaub added. "The American people are sick of members of Congress buying and selling stock and creating the appearance of trading on insider information."
"They should absolutely be banned from trading stocks," Obama's ethics chief concluded. "Let them buy diversified mutual funds. Let them buy government bonds. But bar them from trading stocks for crying out loud."
Shaub also called Pelosi out on Twitter over her comments, tweeting that if the speaker seeks "government ethics" and "to drain the swamp" as well as restore "public trust in the integrity of Congress," she needed to "close this flood gate."
"Madam Speaker, tear down this Wall Street participation!" Shaub added.
Pelosi has come under fire online from critics over her personal trading moves. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., recently slammed lawmakers in Congress who hold and trade individual stocks.
"It is absolutely ludicrous that members of Congress can hold and trade individual stock while in office," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last week. "The access and influence we have should be exercised for the public interest, not our profit. It shouldn't be legal for us to trade individual stock with the info we have."
Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, defended his boss Wednesday, telling Business Insider that the "STOCK Act exists to shine a bright light on trades by members of Congress" and that "sunlight is the best disinfectant."
"As you can see from the required disclosures, with which the speaker fully cooperates, these transactions are marked 'SP' for spouse," Hammill said recently. "The speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions."
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Nancy Pelosi likes wearing a mask because no one can see her lips moving.
Democrat's version of TARP and their so called financial reforms saved Wall Street and threw Main Street under the bus. Any guesses why?
Democrat's version of Obamacare depended upon forcing people to throw money at financial insurance companies. Any guesses why?
Democrats want to make retirement stock investing mandatory. Any guesses why?
And we're supposed to believe that Nancy Pelosi is SALT of the earth. Yeah, right.
Yeah the whole "it's the spouse that is doing it fraud"
It has always been an open secret that the Congress plays on insider information and insider information is provided for them by lobbyists....
Both sides do it as well so it isn't a political issue, it's a Givernment issue... Unlike a Government integrity issue, one of the perks of getting elected..
Yep, it's just piggies feeding at the trough of the US taxpayers.
Nothing new there .....
True enough but 2021 was the worst episode of fat assed progressive piggies feeding off the federal tit. At least Sen. Manchin kicked the slobs away from the BBB tit going into 2022!