“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
Nancy Pelosi stepped down from Democratic leader in Congress this month after decades in charge — but the shadow of her corruption still hangs over the chamber in the form of a fresh financial scandal. Now a Republican senator is taking action to stamp out congressional corruption—filing legislation that mentions her by name.
News broke this week that Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, made another amazingly profitable stock trade on their way out the door.
Mr. Pelosi, sold 30,000 shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google… right before the Justice Department announced it was investigating the Big Tech giant for violating national monopoly laws.
Pelosi sold up to $3 million of the highly profitable company in three stock trades between December 20 and December 28 of last year—not a bad stocking stuffer.
The DOJ announced on Tuesday that it filed its lawsuit against Google, saying it controlled too much internet traffic, a legal move that could severely impact its stock price.
Pelosi’s timing seemed perfect—too perfect—raising questions about whether he leveraged inside information his wife learned in her perch in government.
One of the people determined to find out is Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo. On Tuesday, the Missouri populist introduced a bill forcing members of Congress and their spouses to either sell all their stocks or put them in a blind trust within six months of taking their oath of office.
He called it the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act—or the PELOSI Act. Ouch.
“Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market,” Hawley said at the time.
“People have asked why I named my stock trade ban the PELOSI Act. Now you know,” tweeted Hawley one day later, when news of the Pelosis’ “lucky” stock market moves became news.
People have asked why I named my stock trade ban the PELOSI Act. Now you know https://t.co/qMKDNx5buK
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 25, 2023
His legislation would build on the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which requires congressmen to report stock trades of this sort—but no one has ever been convicted of violating its terms.
That may be why records show Pelosi’s family keeps cashing in every year, year after year, for decades.
Nancy Pelosi’s net worth exploded from an already impressive $31 million in 2008 to $114 million in 2018, according to OpenSecrets.com. Her family had an estimated net worth of $171.4 million in 2021, based on figures reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
She just keeps picking stocks that the government’s actions impact.
“Nancy Pelosi is the ultimate insider. Not only is her husband buying stock options on a much higher level than the average member of Congress. The average member of Congress, may buy $5,000 or $6,000 of stock. He’s buying $500,000 worth of stock. He’s buying stock options which expire.” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., last summer.
Comer now chairs the House Oversight Committee… possibly another reason Pelosi retired.
Most recently, Paul Pelosi bought up to $5 million in stocks in computer chip manufacturer Nvidia…just as the House was going to vote to give the company $52 million in taxpayer funding.
“If there is evidence that Paul Pelosi gained confidential information, that would be that there is a bill in the works — $52 billion to help this semiconductor company Nvidia they invested in,” attorney Brian Claypool told Fox News host Jesse Watters, “then at minimum, there should be an investigation of potential insider trading.”
There wasn’t an investigation—and you wouldn’t even know the trade happened if you watched NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC; they all ignored his big stock purchase.
But The Horn told you all about it last July.
“Nancy’s husband just exercised up to $5 million in stock options on the computer chip company Nvidia,” The Horn reported. “A vote lined up in Congress for next week would hand $52 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to domestic computer chip manufacturers like Nvidia.”
It was the latest event in the Pelosis’ history of cashing in.
Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul—a venture capitalist who heads up Financial Leasing Service—admitted that they raked in $30 million in December 2021.
Mr. Pelosi pocketed $2 million over 10 weeks in January and February 2020. Their stock picks beat the S&P average by 14 percent that year.
He bagged another $5.4 million in a slick stock move involving Alphabet/Google, the following May and June.
Her husband’s perpetual windfalls shouldn’t concern voters, said Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill, because the speaker “does not own any stock” herself.
As long ago as 2008, 60 Minutes did a segment on the then-Speaker’s incredible run in the stock market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUbssESNv4o&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fthehornnews.com%2F&embeds_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fthehornnews.com&feature=emb_logo
When other members of Congress got caught in similar ethical questions, Pelosi defended them—and resisted calls to ban legislators or their families from trading individual stocks.
“We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” Nancy Pelosi said in December 2021—as if there’s anything “free” about taking government actions to enrich yourself and your loved ones.
REPORTER: "Should members of congress and their spouses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in congress?"
PELOSI: "No…We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that." pic.twitter.com/2SNqSCwFEU
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 15, 2021
The speaker buckled last February, saying she would consider an ethics reform bill… but she never did anything.
It’s not just Republicans like Hawley who are concerned about these potential insider trading scandals. A bipartisan bill called the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act has already been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Nancy Pelosi wore her welcome so thin that voters ranked her the most unpopular politician in America in an NBC News poll in August 2021. She had a 22-point net negative rating, worse than Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
Nancy Pelosi is gone; her style of corruption should be swept out of our government next.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”