Speaker Pelosi denies claims that her husband bought stocks based on info she gave him

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi strongly refuted any claims that her husband Paul purchased stocks based on information she provided him. Pelosi was quoted as saying “No, absolutely not,” when the question as put to her by a reporter.

The question came on the back of Paul Pelosi buying shares in the computer chip company Nvidia within the semi-conductor industry ahead of a vote in Congress. In the vote, Congress is expected to give a large subsidy of $52 billion to increase US manufacturing of computer chips and decrease their dependence on China.

Pelosi’s spokesperson Drew Hammill also denied these allegations in a statement he made to Fox News. “The Speaker does not own any stocks. As you can see from the required disclosures, with which the Speaker fully cooperates, these transactions are marked ‘SP’ for Spouse. The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.”

When pressed about legislation and proposals that ban stock trading by members of Congress, Hammill went onto say, “there are at least three proposals introduced in the House in this regard and the Speaker has asked the Committee on House Administration to review these proposals,” requested that Fox Business “should check with the committee on their latest.”

“The Speaker believes that sunlight is the best disinfectant. The Speaker has asked Committee on House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren to examine the issue of Members’ unacceptable noncompliance with the reporting requirements in the STOCK Act, including the possibility of stiffening penalties,” Hammill also stated.

“To be clear, insider trading is already a serious federal criminal and civil violation and the Speaker strongly supports robust enforcement of the relevant statutes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission,” he added. “The Speaker led the House in passing the bipartisan Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, which would subject federal judges to similar disclosure requirements as those in the STOCK Act. President Biden signed this bill into law in May.“