Top Dem raises new concerns about Price’s stock trading after US attorney’s firing
A top Democratic senator is raising new concerns about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s trading of medical stocks and the firing of a U.S. attorney last week.
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, pointed to a report in ProPublica on Friday that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was investigating stock trades Price made while he was a congressman.
The Trump administration last week asked a range of U.S. attorneys to resign, including Bharara, then fired him when he refused to resign.
{mosads}“I’m concerned that by firing U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the Trump Administration may be shutting down an investigation into Secretary Tom Price’s stock trading,” Wyden said in a statement.
Revelations that Price traded a range of medical stocks while a member of Congress involved in healthcare legislation were a central focus of Price’s confirmation hearings.
In particular, Democratic lawmakers pointed to Price’s purchase of discounted stock as part of a private offering for the biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics.
Price defended his stock trades in the hearings and denied wrongdoing.
Democrats said he could have broken insider trading laws or a law against trading on congressional knowledge.
“Republicans rushed Secretary Price’s nomination through the Senate without getting answers to serious questions about his stock trades involving a tiny biotech startup with powerful Washington connections and other health care companies,” Wyden said.
“The American public deserves a full investigation of whether Tom Price used his public position for personal profit.”
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