Top Dem raises new concerns about Price’s stock trading after US attorney’s firing

by Peter Sullivan - 03/17/17 5:07 PM ET

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.”

Tags Ron Wyden