Nancy Pelosi’s Top Lieutenant Sold $50K in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), a top lieutenant of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unloaded upwards of $50,000 in stock after being briefed about the coronavirus pandemic.

Bustos, who chairs the Democratic National Campaign Committee (DCCC), sold off between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in the Walt Disney Company on February 10, according to financial disclosure forms. The sale, which was accompanied by a purchase of the same amount of shares in the retail giant Target, came as the House Appropriations Committee, on which Bustos serves, was privy to briefings from Trump administration officials regarding the pandemic.

One of those took place on February 7, three days before Bustos sold the stock. In that briefing, the House appropriations committee and its Senate counterpart were given a preview by State Department and USAID officials to the Trump administration’s proposed FY2021 budget for combatting global health threats.

The issue of the coronavirus, however, was not far from mind. Earlier that morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had announced the federal government would spend upwards of $100 million helping China and other countries afflicted with the pandemic combat its spread. Despite that news, the briefing proved to be acrimonious, according to sources. Congressional Democrats, in particular, were rankled by cuts the administration was suggesting to the World Health Organization (WHO). At the time, more than one lawmaker argued such cuts were inappropriate given the looming pandemic.

It is unclear if Bustos did attend the briefing, as her congressional office did not return requests for comment. The congresswoman, though, was in Washington, DC, and voted on several pieces of legislation while the House was in session.

If she did attend the briefing, Bustos chose not to publicize the concerns colleagues raised about pandemic and funding for the WHO. When the full budget was made public o... (Read more)

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