Former President Donald Trump said that Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “should to be prosecuted” in light of her husband’s Visa stock transactions, which happened before a Justice Department lawsuit against the credit card company.
“Nancy Pelosi has a little problem because her husband sold their Visa stock – they had a lot of Visa stock – one day before it was announced that Visa is being sued by the Department of Justice,” Trump remarked during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York on Thursday.
The California Democrat’s spouse, Paul Pelosi, sold 2,000 shares of Visa stock valued between $500,000 and $1 million on July 1, according to financial disclosure documents.
On Tuesday, Visa was slapped with a lawsuit by the DOJ, accusing the corporation of illegal monopolization of the debit card market.
The X account “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” highlighted the trade on the same day the lawsuit was filed.
When previously questioned about Mr. Pelosi’s trades, a representative for the former speaker stated, “Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.”
The selling off of shares by Mr. Pelosi, who manages the San Francisco-based investment and consulting firm Financial Leasing Services, Inc., is the latest set of trades he has made that have raised eyebrows due to their timing.
In 2022, Paul Pelosi acquired over $1 million in Nvidia call options weeks ahead of a congressional vote on providing substantial subsidies to the semiconductor industry.
He sold them off after the couple took heat over the transaction’s timing, but reportedly earned $4 million in profit when he made the trade.
It’s against the law for members of Congress or their family members to make trades based on insider information, but the family members can buy and sell stock in companies and industries that their loved ones regulate.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have proposed bills in recent years to prohibit legislators and their families from owning stock due to concerns about insider trading, yet none have advanced far enough to be reviewed by committees until this year.
Their most recent attempt, the ETHICS Act, was moved forward by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Relations in July with an 8-4 vote.
The bipartisan bill was introduced in April 2023 by Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, Michigan Senator Gary Peters, Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, and Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
If enacted, the new legislation would prohibit lawmakers from purchasing new individual stocks immediately, and by the start of the next congressional session in 2027, legislators would be mandated to sell off any individual assets.
“You want to serve in Congress don’t come here to serve your portfolio, come here to serve the people,” Merkley told NPR in July.
He added that the issue transcends party lines, stating, “The public is absolutely united in saying stock trading is wrong,” noting a University of Maryland poll showing 85% of Americans support banning stock trading by Congress members.
On Thursday, Trump implied that Nancy Pelosi was aware of the impending lawsuit and informed her husband before he sold the stock.
“Think of that. Nancy Pelosi sold vast amounts of Visa stock one day before the big lawsuit that we all read about a few days ago,” he told reporters. “You think it was luck? I don’t.”
“She should be prosecuted,” Trump proclaimed. “Nancy Pelosi should be prosecuted for that.”
