Armed Services chairman bought, dropped defense stock

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) bought and then dumped stock in the defense contractor Raytheon this week, saying he was unaware a financial advisor made the purchase until Wednesday.

The Daily Beast first reported that a financial disclosure form dated 10:29 a.m. Wednesday showed Inhofe bought between $50,001 and $100,000 in stock of Raytheon.

{mosads}In a statement, Inhofe spokeswoman Leacy Burke said all of the senator’s financial transactions are handled by a third-party advisor and so he was unaware of transaction until Wednesday.

“The senator has had no involvement in and has not been consulted about his stock transactions,” Burke said in a statement provided to The Hill. “As such, the Senator was not aware of this stock purchase until it came through the system very early this morning.”

After he became aware, Burke said, he reversed the transaction.

“As a result, the senator has called his financial advisor and they reversed, or busted, the transaction,” she said. “This means that the transaction was canceled before it was settled; the senator never took ownership of it.”

An amending filing dated 4:38 p.m. no longer includes the Raytheon purchase.

Inhofe also told his financial advisor not to buy to stock in defense contractors going forward because of his position as Armed Services chairman, according to a copy of the letter provided by Burke.

“Thank you for continuing to manage my financial holdings,” Inhofe wrote in the letter. “Because of my new position as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, it is important for me to not own or trade any defense or aerospace companies. Therefore, I instruct you to no longer purchase defense or aerospace companies as part of my financial holdings.”

According to the Daily Beast, metadata in the document indicates it was created less than 20 minutes after the news outlet first reached out for comment.

Inhofe officially became chairman in September after Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) death, though he served as acting chairman throughout McCain’s absence prior to his death. 

As chairman, Inhofe has been pushing for continued defense budget increases. He visited the White House to make his case last week alongside Defense Secretary James Mattis and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas). The group was reportedly successful in convincing President Trump to propose a $750 billion budget next year.