Agents question Feinstein about husband’s trades
WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein was questioned by federal law enforcement agents about stock trades her husband made after the coronavirus hit the United States, her office said Thursday.
The California Democrat also provided documents to federal agents to show she was not involved in the transactions by her husband, investment banker Richard Blum, her spokesman said.
“She was happy to voluntarily answer those questions to set the record straight,” said spokesman Tom Mentzer. “There have been no followup actions on this issue.”
Mentzer did not specify which law enforcement agency questioned Feinstein.
Feinstein’s confirmation of the questions regarding Blum’s stock trades came the day it was reported that Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, RN.C., turned over his cell phone to the FBI amid an investigation into his stock trades, which he made after the panel received classified briefings on the early days of the outbreak. Burr has stepped aside as committee chairman while the investigation is under way.
Feinstein is a senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.
Feinstein and Burr were two of four senators who made large stock trades as they were being told of the outbreak’s seriousness in briefings, but before the American public was largely aware of the severity of the situation, the New York Times reported in March.
Feinstein’s sale of millions of dollars in biotechnology stocks after those coronavirus briefings drew scrutiny, but the senator maintained that she was not directly involved in managing her assets.
She also said reports that she attended a Jan. 24 Intelligence Committee classified briefing with administration officials on the coronavirus threat were incorrect. That briefing was in the same time frame as the stock sales by her and the other senators.
“I was unable to attend,” Feinstein tweeted in March.
Blum sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in shares of Allogene Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 18. The trades were detailed in Feinstein’s financial disclosures. After those shares were sold, the stock increased in value, before the market crashed and the company’s value fell.
Burr traded hundreds of thousands dollars worth of stocks as he was downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak in public. His sales included hotel chain stocks that plummeted after the outbreak began to cause shutdowns nationwide.
Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma also sold large amounts of stock shortly before the coronavirus hit the U.S.
When the trades were reported, President Trump defended Feinstein, calling her a “very honorable person.”