Republican Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill called The Pelosi Act to bar members of congress from owning stocks. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.

Transcript:

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Mike Papantonio: Republican Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill called the Pelosi Act to bar members of Congress from owning stock. Really what it’s about is we have Congress has been, you know, they’ve had this free ride to, to engage in insider trading. Pelosi expert, her, her old man has made like millions and millions trading on inside information that came directly from the information that she had. Pick it up.

Farron Cousins: Yeah, exactly. So Hawley, you know, he tries to take a shot at Pelosi by naming it the Pelosi Act. But in reality, it’s actually a good bill.

Mike Papantonio: Yeah.

Farron Cousins: I’ll give ’em full credit for that. We have to ban the trading of stocks. You and I have stood here and we have talked, we’ve gone through the full list of the Republicans and the Democrats that are doing this and obviously Pelosi is one of the most visible people. But it’s, it’s a bipartisan thing. They’re all doing it. And, and when they get caught, the worst that can happen is they have to pay a $200 fine.

Mike Papantonio: $200 fine.

Farron Cousins: Like, that’s the penalty for insider trading.

Mike Papantonio: Okay. Let me tell you how crazy it is. If a congress, congressman is in committee and they are engaged in an investigation that’s closed door, they’re taking the in, like the chip. Let’s talk about the chip. This is, you know, this was, this was, everybody found out about it finally. But this is where you had Pelosi’s husband that was taking this information and trading on it because he knew that government was getting ready to put a ton of money into that, into that business, right?

Farron Cousins: Yeah, exactly. That, I mean, that is exactly what happened. The government wanted computer chips made here in the United States. Paul Pelosi owned stock in offshore computer chip manufacturers. He finds out about this. He dumps all that stock. Couple days later, Congress announces what they’re gonna do. It, it’s no different and, and we also see it one, with the defense industry. Huge.

Mike Papantonio: Oh, good God.

Farron Cousins: Because they know, okay, we’ve got this budget here that is not yet public. We know 20 billion is going to Raytheon, 80 billion is going to Northrop Grumman. So I’m gonna go buy these stocks now because they’re gonna go through the roof when the budget’s announced.

Mike Papantonio: Okay. So one way they get information is at the hearings.

Farron Cousins: Yeah.

Mike Papantonio: Okay. They’re there, they’re engaged in the hearings. The other way they get the information is from the lobbyists who are telling them, this is the amount of money we’re putting to push into this.

Farron Cousins: Yeah.

Mike Papantonio: Okay. They kind of get it at that point. All their pals are there on K Street and they come off of K Street, said, we’re really gonna push this one. Well, okay, well, I guess it’s time for me to invest. Nobody goes to jail. You know, they’re, the American, average American citizen if they did that, even the dysfunctional Department of Justice would go after that person. But they let them go with a $200 fine.

Farron Cousins: If, if they even enact the fine, which they very rarely do even when it is so blatant that this is taking place.

Mike Papantonio: Jesus.

Mike Papantonio is an American attorney and television and radio talk show host. He is past president of The National Trial Lawyers, the most prestigious trial lawyer association in America; and is one of the few living attorneys inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He hosts the international television show "America's Lawyer"; and co-hosts Ring of Fire Radio, a nationally syndicated weekly radio program, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Sam Seder.