Prominent Democrat representative and member of the January 6 committee Jamie Raskin of Maryland violated a federal conflict-of-interest law by not disclosing his wife’s stock trading activities. Raskin was one of the leaders of the second impeachment of Donald Trump. His wife, Sarah Bloom Raskin, is President Biden’s nominee to serve as the vice chairwoman for supervision at the Federal Reserve. She has not been confirmed yet.
Raskin neglected to disclose large stock transactions
Jamie Raskin has acknowledged that he was seven months late in disclosing a sale of stocks worth $1.5 million made by his wife on December 18, 2020.
Stock transactions made by congressional spouses which exceed $1,000 must be reported within 30 to 45 days according to federal law.
The Raskins lost their son, Thomas, on December 31, 2020. Only days after his death, Jamie Raskin would lead Trump’s second impeachment.
He says that during this eventful period, and particularly due to the death of his son, he forgot to properly disclose the sale within the required period of time.
The STOCK Act, passed in 2012, was created to prevent insider trading by members of Congress and established the current 45 day limit for reporting transactions.
Despite the passing of the act, violations are widespread in both parties and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have proposed new legislation to crack down harder on this behavior.
A revolving door nominee
Sarah Bloom Raskin is already a controversial nominee to serve as a top regulator of banks at the Federal Reserve.
Leftist senators feel that she will take a tougher stance against Wall Street and appreciate her aggressive opposition to fossil fuel companies.
These are the same positions which make her controversial for conservatives, but Republican senators have also pointed to her own financial dealings as grounds for opposing her confirmation.
Senator Pat Toomey suggested that Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination was an example of the “revolving door” in action and a case of hypocrisy from the Democrats.
The “revolving door” is a term used to describe the tendency of powerful people in D.C. to move seamlessly between public and private sector positions.
Powerful Democrats have been vocal about both closing the revolving door and cracking down on stock misbehavior in Congress. Jamie Raskin and his wife seem to be one of their tolerated exceptions.
