As a frightening new virus began spreading around the world in early 2020, a few lawmakers made some very well-timed stock trades.
Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr of North Carolina sold shares in hotel companies that would lose value as travel dropped amid the rising pandemic. Then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, and her husband bought stock in a company that makes teleworking software, which gained value as millions of people began working from home weeks later. The wife of GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky bought stock in Gilead Sciences, which went on to develop an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19.
All of this was before the coronavirus upended normal life in the U.S., sickened millions of people and caused wild changes in stock prices. But it was after senators were privately briefed in late January on the emerging threat the new virus posed to the nation.
The Justice Department closed its insider trading investigations of Loeffler and Burr without filing charges, as well as of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose husband sold stock unrelated to the pandemic; she said she did not attend the private briefing. But the prospect that public officials might have personally benefited from their access to sensitive information about COVID-19 triggered a wave of ethical concerns still rippling through the country. A poll last month found that 63% of voters – including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans – say members of Congress should be banned from trading stock.
We agree. It is important that elected officials behave ethically but also that people perceive that ethics are foundational in our government.