Pelosi torched for stock trading remarks: It’s a free market

carleyshaffer1December 18, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – DECEMBER 15: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) talks to reporters during her weekly news conference in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on December 15, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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UPDATED 11:11 AM PT – Saturday, December 17, 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has come under scrutiny as she rejects placing a ban on congressional insider trading. In an op-ed on Friday, New Republic’s Matt Ford warned Pelosi’s disregard for government corruption could have dire consequences to American society.

This follows Pelosi’s rocky remarks to the press earlier this week. Pelosi was asked if she’s aware that at least 48 of her colleagues and 182 senior aides broke transparency laws about stock trading.

“We have a responsibility to report on the stock, but I’m not familiar with that five-month review. But if people aren’t reporting, they should be,” said Pelosi.

Some have been critical of lawmaker stock trading due to their influence over regulatory policies. Pelosi rejected a ban on insider trading, suddenly voicing her support for the free market.

“Because this is a free market and people…we are a free market economy, they should be able to participate in that,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Pelosi’s husband operates an investment firm in San Francisco and made a $5.3 million profit from one of his trades with alphabet, which is Google’s parent company.

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

Pelosi’s apparent newfound support for the free market runs in stark contrast with her track record of pushing socialist policies on everyday Americans in the name of so-called equity and social justice. Speaking in London last September, Pelosi went so far as to shame Americans who have profited from the free market and warned it must be reformed for the greater good.

“I can say that in America, capitalism is our system. It is our economic system, but it has not served our economy as well as it should,” Pelosi said last year. “So you cannot have a system where we…the success of some springs from the exploitation of the workers and springs from the exploitation of the environment.”

According to Business Insider, Pelosi is the 15th wealthiest member of Congress with a minimum estimated net worth of $46 million.