David Sirota calls Susan Rice stock divestment ‘corruption deduction’

David Sirota, founder of The Daily Poster, told Hill.TV that Susan Rice’s recent divestment from corporate holdings reveal a conflict of interest and shine a light on a serious problem in government. 

Rice, who serves as director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council, was recently notified by ethics officials that she needed to sell her shares in companies that the federal government does business with.

The most controversial of those holdings, according to Sirota, was stock in Enbridge, the company constructing the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota.

“The pipeline investment is important because, of course, the Biden administration recently decided to essentially back Enbridge’s controversial Line 3 pipeline while Susan Rice has a personal financial stake in the pipeline company itself,” Sirota said.

He described how a provision in the tax code gives federal officials a tax break when they are forced to sell an investment.

“But what I look at this as is basically a corruption deduction, a corruption tax-deduction,” Sirota said. 

Sirota said that while he doesn’t think a lot of people go into government possessing investments with the intent of benefiting financially, he does think the subsequent tax break reveals a flawed system. 

“I’m not saying it’s a calculation like that,” he said, “but clearly everyone knows what’s going on.”