Nancy Pelosi erupts when asked by CNN's Jake Tapper about allegations of insider trading
On "The Lead," Tapper tried to show President Donald Trump's comments earlier that day accusing Pelosi of becoming rich "by having inside information" in stock trading. When he attempted to read Trump's comments after a technical error, she quickly shut him down.
"Why do you have to read that?" Pelosi erupted. "We're here to talk about the 60th anniversary of Medicaid. That's what I agreed to come to talk…and what that means in the election."
"I wanted to give you a chance to respond," Tapper replied. "He accused you of insider trading. What's your response to that?"
"That's ridiculous," Pelosi replied. "In fact, I very much support the stop the trading of members of Congress. Not that I think anybody is doing anything wrong. If they are, they are prosecuted, and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don't worry about this."
She continued, "But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time. I'm not into it. My husband is, but it isn't anything to do with anything insider.
"But the president has his own exposure, so he's always projecting. He's always projecting, and let's not give him any more time on that, please."
Pelosi added that she's "very proud" of her family and called out Trump for allegedly inspiring and mocking the attack against her husband Paul in 2022.
"I'd rather not go into some of my other complaints about him right now, rather talk about the 60th anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare," Pelosi concluded.
Sen. Josh Hawley's, R-Mo., Honest Act, a bill to ban all members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks while in office, passed through the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday with committee Democrats joining in support.
Hawley originally introduced the bill as the PELOSI Act, or the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act, in April as a sly reference to accusations against Pelosi. He introduced a similar bill in 2023.
The PELOSI Act was heavily marked up in the committee process, with the main difference between the two bills being that the Honest Act also bans the president and vice president from making trades while in office.
Pelosi has come under fire for alleged insider trading after several reports emerged of her husband trading stock ahead of congressional measures.
In 2022, for example, Paul Pelosi traded between $1 million and $5 million of stocks for semiconductors just days before Congress voted on a $52 million subsidy to the industry.
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