Dem
47
GOP
53
With all the momentous law-breaking going on in the nation's capital, like violations of habeas corpus and the Posse Comitatus Act, and so much more, there has been barely any attention paid to normal, everyday corruption not involving the Constitution or national security. But it's still there.
Specifically, another young female intern at NOTUS scored a scoop when she discovered a filing by Pete Hegseth (yes, THAT Pete Hegseth), stating that on March 24, nine days before Donald Trump announced the tariffs on countries and penguins, he (Hegseth) sold off 29 blocks of stock he owned, including Amazon, Apple, Walmart and other companies whose stock would nosedive on April 2.
What made Hegseth suddenly decide to sell so much stock? Could he have known about the impending tariffs and then traded based on that knowledge? That is called insider trading and is one of the SEC's little no-no's. Did the stock fairy visit him on March 24 and give him a tip? Is he clairvoyant? Maybe he didn't know anything specific and just had a gut feeling that Trump was going to do something that would freak out the stock market.
Still, Delaney Marsco, ethics director of the Campaign Legal Center, said: "An appearance of wrongdoing, an appearance of insider trading, or the appearance that people are more focused on their stock portfolio than working on behalf of the American public is just as bad as if a violation actually occurred, because our system relies on the public being able to trust our leaders and trust in the system."
If Hegseth had wanted to avoid the appearance of unethical and perhaps illegal trading, he could easily have put all his stocks into a blind trust upon being confirmed by the Senate and let the trustee manage them without him knowing what he actually owned. For some reason, he didn't do that. Wonder why? (V)