Finance • News • Opinons • Politics

Dianne Feinstein, 3 Senate Colleagues Sold Off Stocks Before Coronavirus Crash

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and three of her Senate colleagues sold off stocks worth millions of dollars in the days before the coronavirus outbreak crashed the market, according to reports.

The data is listed on a U.S. Senate website containing financial disclosures from Senate members.

Feinstein, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and her husband sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in California biotech company Allogene Therapeutics, between Jan. 31 and Feb. 18, The New York Times reported.


When questioned by the newspaper, a spokesman for the Democrat from San Francisco said Feinstein wasn’t directly involved in the sale.

“All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust,” the spokesman, Tom Mentzer, told the Times. “She has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions.”


Undercover Israeli agents will testify in Louisiana against alleged Oct. 7 terrorist: Judge
Alaska is still counting votes more than a week after Election Day: What to know
Trump’s spy chiefs put Republican leaders on the clock over ‘huge priority’ as power shift looms over Congress
The mistake newly-elected Dems admit they can’t afford to make with Trump after sweeping 2026 wins
Mamdani Set to Disband NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Protest Response Unit: Report
Fact Check: No, Guard Did Not Yell at Hegseth at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – Just Watch Raw Video and Listen
Rubio’s next move? Lawyers eye speech of ‘visionary’ leader for 2028 clues after GOP’s midterm wipeout
Empire State Building climbers face deportation fears after attorney claims plea deal fell apart
Schumer’s Senate leadership fight intensifies as key progressive backs challenger and more top headlines
Tough Guy Viciously Attacks Family Over Christian Tract in Halloween Candy, Then Becomes Total Coward When Internet Tracks Him Down
Huge GOP election losses spur debates about populist economics
Jeffries shredded over Hegseth impeachment snafu as Dem jockeys for speaker’s gavel
Three-quarters of House members seeking statewide office lost
In Haiti, Bukele cracks down where UN failed
Pence leaves door open to 2028 White House run, issues stark warning to GOP after midterm disaster

“All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust. She has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions.”

— Tom Mentzer, Feinstein spokesman

Reports identified the three other senators as Richard Burr of North Carolina, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, all Republicans.

Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, used more than 30 transactions to dump between $628,000 and $1.72 million on Feb. 13, according to ProPublica.

The report said the transactions involved a significant percentage of the senator’s holdings and took place about a week before the impact of the virus outbreak sent stock prices plunging to the point where gains made during President Trump’s term in office were largely erased.

“Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” a Burr spokesperson said. “As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy.”

Burr was an author of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, a law that helps determine the federal response to situations such as the coronavirus outbreak, ProPublica reported. Burr’s office would not comment on what kind of information Burr might have received about coronavirus prior to his stock sales, the outlet reported.


Undercover Israeli agents will testify in Louisiana against alleged Oct. 7 terrorist: Judge
Alaska is still counting votes more than a week after Election Day: What to know
Trump’s spy chiefs put Republican leaders on the clock over ‘huge priority’ as power shift looms over Congress
The mistake newly-elected Dems admit they can’t afford to make with Trump after sweeping 2026 wins
Mamdani Set to Disband NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Protest Response Unit: Report
Fact Check: No, Guard Did Not Yell at Hegseth at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – Just Watch Raw Video and Listen
Rubio’s next move? Lawyers eye speech of ‘visionary’ leader for 2028 clues after GOP’s midterm wipeout
Empire State Building climbers face deportation fears after attorney claims plea deal fell apart
Schumer’s Senate leadership fight intensifies as key progressive backs challenger and more top headlines
Tough Guy Viciously Attacks Family Over Christian Tract in Halloween Candy, Then Becomes Total Coward When Internet Tracks Him Down
Huge GOP election losses spur debates about populist economics
Jeffries shredded over Hegseth impeachment snafu as Dem jockeys for speaker’s gavel
Three-quarters of House members seeking statewide office lost
In Haiti, Bukele cracks down where UN failed
Pence leaves door open to 2028 White House run, issues stark warning to GOP after midterm disaster

NPR reported that Burr made ominous comments about coronavirus behind closed doors last month.

“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” Burr said at a Feb. 27 meeting of business leaders in Washington. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”

Loeffler was appointed to the Senate in December by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after incumbent Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned because of health issues – despite allies of President Trump having urged Kemp to select Rep. Doug Collins instead.

Loeffler and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, sold stock Jan. 24, the same day she sat in on a briefing from two members of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, The Daily Beast reported.

Between that day and Feb. 14, the couple sold stock worth a total between $1.2 million and $3.1 million, the report said. In addition to the sales, they also purchased stock in a maker of software that helps people work at home – just before millions of Americans were forced to leave their offices because of the outbreak, the report said.

Loeffler slammed the Daily Beast report as a “ridiculous and baseless attack” in a pair of late-night tweets.


Undercover Israeli agents will testify in Louisiana against alleged Oct. 7 terrorist: Judge
Alaska is still counting votes more than a week after Election Day: What to know
Trump’s spy chiefs put Republican leaders on the clock over ‘huge priority’ as power shift looms over Congress
The mistake newly-elected Dems admit they can’t afford to make with Trump after sweeping 2026 wins
Mamdani Set to Disband NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Protest Response Unit: Report
Fact Check: No, Guard Did Not Yell at Hegseth at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – Just Watch Raw Video and Listen
Rubio’s next move? Lawyers eye speech of ‘visionary’ leader for 2028 clues after GOP’s midterm wipeout
Empire State Building climbers face deportation fears after attorney claims plea deal fell apart
Schumer’s Senate leadership fight intensifies as key progressive backs challenger and more top headlines
Tough Guy Viciously Attacks Family Over Christian Tract in Halloween Candy, Then Becomes Total Coward When Internet Tracks Him Down
Huge GOP election losses spur debates about populist economics
Jeffries shredded over Hegseth impeachment snafu as Dem jockeys for speaker’s gavel
Three-quarters of House members seeking statewide office lost
In Haiti, Bukele cracks down where UN failed
Pence leaves door open to 2028 White House run, issues stark warning to GOP after midterm disaster

Share this article:
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter