Could COVID Insider Trading Scandals Cost Republicans the Senate?

Loeffler with Der Trumpenführer.

Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading - using non-public information - in the sale of $230,000 of stock, an amount that pales in comparison to the amounts of stock sold by Republicans in the U.S. Senate after an special intelligence briefing on the coming pandemic and just before the stock market collapsed.  Using this privileged information, these senators avoid millions of dollars of losses while the rest of the public and retirement funds were slammed as the market cratered. Now, these individuals are under FBI and Security and Exchange Commission ("SEC") investigation for these "insider" deals.  Vanity Fair looks at the possible repercussions for Republicans.  Here are excerpts:

On Thursday, Senator Kelly Loeffler provided information to federal law enforcement about controversial stock trades she made just before the coronavirus-induced market crash. As Politico reported, the Georgia Republican turned over documents to the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee. According to a statement released by her spokesperson on Thursday, the documents showed that she and her husband, New York Stock Exchange chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, “acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law”—something Loeffler has maintained throughout, even as accusations of insider trading have swirled.

Loeffler’s decision to turn over documents came as another of her Republican Senate colleagues faces similar questions. On Thursday, North Carolina Senator Richard Burr announced he would step down from his position as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman. Burr is being investigated for up to $1.72 million in stock sales he conducted just before coronavirus caused the market to plunge in February. The FBI has reportedly served a warrant for Burr’s cell phone, part of the Justice Department’s inquiry into whether he violated a law prohibiting members of Congress from acting on intelligence they’ve gleaned from their official work. Burr, like Loeffler, denies any wrongdoing.

As the Burr and Loeffler probes escalate, the Senate is facing fundamental questions around whether some of the most powerful lawmakers in the country should buy and sell stock at all. As my colleague Abigail Tracy reported last month, “the perception that anyone in Congress profited off of the coronavirus crisis is a blow to the institution.” In recent weeks, a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from owning individual stocks has gained traction, though Tracy notes that passing such a ban at the moment is unlikely.

The twin controversies have also inspired concern from senior Republicans about their ability to retain control of the Senate. The Washington Examiner’s David Drucker reported on Friday that the GOP is worried about its prospects, fearing that the investigation into Burr’s financial transactions could prompt his resignation before September 4. In that case, Drucker says, “a November special election would be triggered to fill the remainder of his term, multiplying the challenges Republicans face as they scramble to protect their 53-seat majority.” According to a Republican insider, “people still don’t know exactly what transpired, which is why the current review is important. But North Carolina already features what will be a very expensive Senate race, and another one would be quite challenging for Republicans.”

Paul Ryan and Senator Burr Say FBI Has Acted Appropriately

Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)

To stir up his knuckle dragging base and in apparent preparation for possible impeachment, Donald Trump has been working overtime building the myth that the FBI placed a spy withing his campaign and/or worked to entrap him or his sleazy and possibly traitorous minions.  Far too many congressional Republicans have kissed Der Trumpenführer's ring and have rebroadcast the lies, most notably Devin Nunes who seemingly takes orders from Vladimir Putin himself.  Now Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and House Speaker Paul Ryan - although very belatedly in the case of Ryan - have challenged Trump's untrue fabrications (another name for lies) and have stated that the FBI acted appropriately contrary to Trump's claims.  How Trump and his insane/morally bankrupt apologists will try to frame these simply statements of the truth as the result of machinations and manipulation on the part of Democrats remains to be seen.  The only certainty is that Trump's base will continue to swallow his lies like pigs at a trough.  A piece at CNN looks at Burr and Ryan's break with the Trump lie machine. Here are highlights:

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, both Republicans, broke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday over allegations spies infiltrated his 2016 campaign, saying they agree with GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy that the FBI did "exactly" what it should have done over its handling of a confidential source. The declarations by the leading Republicans are the latest indications that Trump lacks any evidence to back up his claims of a major political scandal he calls "spygate" -- since those lawmakers were among a select group briefed on the classified intelligence at issue. The only Republican briefed on the intelligence who has yet to break from Trump is Rep. Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence chairman who has demanded more documents as part of his investigation. "I think that Trey Gowdy's description of the process was correct," Burr said

Officials briefed Ryan, Gowdy and other congressional leaders last month on the FBI's use of a confidential source that interacted with Trump's campaign two years ago as the Department of Justice investigated Russian meddling.
 The briefings came after House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes demanded more information about the source -- a push that has prompted Trump to publicly speculate whether the FBI infiltrated his campaign. Nunes declined to comment Wednesday.

Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight Committee who is retiring at the end of his congressional term, concluded last week after attending a classified briefing that the FBI acted appropriately in the probe. "I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump," Gowdy said in an interview on Fox News. . . . I have seen no evidence to the contrary of, of the initial assessment that Chairman Gowdy has made," he [Ryan] said.
 Ryan was also asked whether he believes the President is able to pardon himself, after Trump tweeted Monday that he has the "absolute right" to do so, though he added he's done nothing wrong as special counsel Robert Mueller continues his investigation.

"I don't know the technical answer to that question, but I think obviously the answer is he shouldn't," Ryan said. "No one is above the law."

Trump Pressed Top Republicans to End Senate Russia Probe

Se, Burr whom Trump tried to pressure.

The New York Times broke the story last night that Donald Trump personally intervened and tried to pressure Senate Republicans to end the Russiagate probe, an act which might be a criminal offense involving obstruction of justice.  Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions has refused to answer a Congressional inquiry that asked him if Trump ever pressured him to intervene and derail the Russiagate and/or Mike Flynn investigation.  Obviously, if the answer is "no", one would thing Sessions would have answered the question.  Thus, the inference is that if Sessions will not answer the question, then Trump DID try to pressure Sessions.  The two circumstances certainly combine to argue that Trump WAS trying to obstruct the Russiagate investigation.  Here are excerpts from the Times piece:

President Trump over the summer repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to end the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to a half dozen lawmakers and aides. Mr. Trump’s requests were a highly unusual intervention from a president into a legislative inquiry involving his family and close aides.

Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the intelligence committee chairman, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump told him that he was eager to see an investigation that has overshadowed much of the first year of his presidency come to an end.

“It was something along the lines of, ‘I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible,’” Mr. Burr said. He said he replied to Mr. Trump that “when we have exhausted everybody we need to talk to, we will finish.”

In addition, according to lawmakers and aides, Mr. Trump told Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and a member of the intelligence committee, to end the investigation swiftly.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is a former chairwoman of the intelligence committee, said in an interview this week that Mr. Trump’s requests were “inappropriate” and represented a breach of the separation of powers.

Mr. Trump’s requests of lawmakers to end the Senate investigation came during a period in the summer when the president was particularly consumed with Russia and openly raging at his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from any inquiries into Russian meddling in the election. Mr. Trump often vented to his own aides and even declared his innocence to virtual strangers he came across on his New Jersey golf course.

In this same period, the president complained frequently to Mr. McConnell about not doing enough to bring the investigation to an end, a Republican official close to the leader said.

Mr. Burr said . . . . other members of his committee have had similar discussions with Mr. Trump. “Everybody has promptly shared any conversations that they’ve had,” Mr. Burr said. Mr. Burr and Mr. Blunt have both taken steps to limit their interaction with Mr. Trump this year, not wanting to create the perception of coziness as they conduct a highly sensitive investigation into contacts between the president’s campaign and Moscow last year.

Robert S. Mueller III, the Justice Department’s special counsel who is leading a separate investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, is also examining whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice when he fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director who was running a federal inquiry into the matter.

Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers feared he would move to fire Mr. Mueller, an option that the president pointedly left open in an Oval Office interview with The New York Times in July.

During this time, Mr. Trump made several calls to senators without senior staff present, according to one West Wing official. According to senators and other Republicans familiar with the conversations, Mr. Trump would begin the talks on a different topic but eventually drift toward the Russia investigation.

In conversations with Mr. McConnell and Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Trump voiced sharp anger that congressional Republicans were not helping lift the cloud of suspicion over Russia, the senators told political allies. 

What Richard Nixon did that led to his resignation rather than face impeachment pales compared to Trump's overall actions - not to mention all of his other actions that argue for his removal from office.