Hawley: Pelosi ‘a Perfect Example of How Rich People Can Get’ by Using Insider Congressional Information

Thursday, during an appearance on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) discussed his so-called PELOSI Act, which according to the Missouri Republican, would end members of Congress using the inside information they receive through their office.

Hawley’s effort would end stock trades and ownership by members of Congress.

“My next guest is vowing to put an end to insider trading, public corruption in the swamp, in Washington, D.C., with a bill that he calls the PELOSI Act,” Hannity said. “Here with more, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is with us. Senator, tell us about this bill.”

“Well, listen, Sean, you’ve laid it out perfectly, which is that when people sent, when a voter sent members of Congress to Washington, they expect them to do the people’s business, not to be day trading on the stock market, not to be using the information that they get from briefings to go and make a quick buck on Wall Street,” Hawley replied. “So here’s what my bill does: It says no more trading of stocks by members of Congress. In fact, no more ownership of stocks by members of Congress. If you want to save, fine, put it in a mutual fund like most Americans do. But Nancy Pelosi is the perfect example of what should not be happening in D.C., which is people getting rich out in the stock market, off of information they know because they’re a member of Congress.”

“And Pelosi, what, traded between $1 million and $5 million in stocks for semiconductors only days before Congress allocated $52 million to the industry?” Hannity said. “Am I right on that, Senator?”

“That’s the report, Sean, and there’s lots of reports like that with her, with her family and other members of Congress,” Hawley said. “I mean, this is a problem that has been going on fo,r years, and she is just a perfect example of how rich people can get by using their information. Listen, insider trading is already illegal, and we’re talking here about members of Congress, the briefings that they get, the information that we have from he. It’s, it’s information that most Americans don’t have because, of course, that’s why they send us to Congress is to do their business, not to turn that around and to get rich off of it. That’s why I call it the PELOSI Act. We need to act right now.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor