Loeffler Won’t Answer Key Questions on Stock Transactions, “Can’t Say Anything That I Would Have Done Differently”

Weeks After Initial Bombshell Report on “Unseemly” Stock Trades, New Details Continue to Emerge But Loeffler Refuses to Disclose Who Manages Her Portfolio

McConnell Initially Declined to Say Whether He Still Supports Loeffler, Won’t Comment on Whether He’s “Bothered” By Scandal

In a weekend report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution detailed how unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler still refuses to disclose who manages her stock portfolio and handled the stock trades made after a senators-only briefing on the coronavirus while she downplayed the threat the virus posed to the country. Now, the Washington Post reported that Loeffler said, “I can’t say anything that I would have done differently.”

The incident has even raised questions about support from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who initially declined to say whether he still supports Loeffler. A McConnell spokesperson was later forced to clarify that the Republican leader still stands by Loeffler but would not say if he’s “bothered” by Loeffler’s scandal or if he believes it warrants a Senate Ethics Committee probe.

McConnell’s tepid response comes on top of the bipartisan backlash, calls for investigations, and concerns about down-ticket damage from Georgia Republicans Loeffler is already facing as her scandal shows no signs of fading from the spotlight. Loeffler is already seeing support from deep-pocketed Washington conservative groups dry up as she struggles to defend her and her husband’s “timely trades” in the shadow of a federal inquiry into lawmakers’ stock trades. Loeffler’s scandal is proving to be a “major political liability” for national Republicans looking to hold on to her Senate seat as the GOP’s decision to appoint her is looking more and more like a “major strategic miscalculation for Republicans.”

“If Senator Loeffler were acting in full transparency, she would disclose who allegedly manages these transactions and what agreement is in place to prevent sharing insider information — but that hasn’t happened,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “The refusal to share this basic information is another red flag in a scandal that isn’t going away and underscores how she’s looking after herself in a public health and economic crisis.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Questions remain about who is handling Kelly Loeffler’s stock transactions

By Tia Mitchell

April 4, 2020

Key Points:

• U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler has provided no proof that financial advisers making stock transactions on her behalf have total control over decision-making.

• The Georgia senator has been accused of using insider information procured from Senate briefings on the coronavirus to inform her recent stock trades. In response to the criticism, Loeffler says that financial consultants acting independently conduct all transactions on her behalf.

• To this day, however, Loeffler has not provided details about how her portfolio is managed and who does that work. She won’t name her advisers or say what company they work for or disclose what kind of agreement she has with them. 

• Loeffler also has not said whether she or her husband, Jeff Sprecher, provided these consultants with general directions about how they want their money invested or if the advisers created an investment strategy policy for the couple.

• In the absence of information that could quell accusations that Loeffler participated in insider trading, the controversy continues to dog her.

• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to review her most recent financial disclosures, which showed that the couple sold shares in retail stores such as Lululemon and T.J. Maxx and invested in a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments. During that same time period covering mid-February through mid-March, Loeffler and Sprecher also made $18.7 million in sales of ICE stock.

• The couple also purchased about $50,000 in stock for the travel website Booking, only to turn around just a few days later and sell it back. Those transactions occurred at the same time that President Donald Trump restricted international travel to limit the spread of COVID-19.

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not said if he is bothered by Loeffler’s trading or transactions made by other senators whose portfolio has also faced scrutiny over the past two weeks. He also wouldn’t say whether he thinks the Senate Ethics Committee should investigate her or any of the others.

Read the full story here.

Washington Post: The young and eventful Senate career of wealthy Georgia businesswoman Kelly Loeffler

By Manuel Roig-Franzia

April 6, 2020

Key Points:

• The young and eventful Senate career of Kelly Loeffler, a wealthy Georgia business executive and political neophyte, was born in a maelstrom and was barely three months old when it entered another.

• Maelstrom Number One came with her appointment in December by Georgia’s Republican governor to fill a vacant Senate seat. In picking Loeffler, the governor angered right-wing Republicans who had wanted the job to go to Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), a staunch supporter of President Trump and lively critic of his impeachment.

• Maelstrom Number Two is an ongoing uproar over stock transactions Loeffler and her husband executed after she attended an early, closed-door Senate briefing on the coronavirus. The novice senator is up for election in November, and the controversy threatens to make her one of the first political casualties of the global pandemic.

• “I can’t say anything that I would have done differently,” the 49-year-old senator told The Washington Post, reflecting on her stock trades.

• On its face, the timing of the investment deals — which Loeffler said were made without her knowledge by her investment advisers — have raised suspicions. Her congressional disclosures, which require senators to reveal only a range of transaction amounts rather than precise figures, state that she and her husband sold between $1.2 million and $3.1 million in stocks in the three weeks after the Jan. 24 coronavirus briefing. Those sales, which were revealed on a Senate disclosure report in mid-March, took place before the stock market cratered amid concerns about the pandemic.

• Loeffler, who once specialized in explaining complex financial information to investment professionals and seasoned business journalists, has struggled to quell the controversy. 

• With the story exploding, Loeffler has had to go into damage-control mode, calmly running through her talking points, often using the same phrases in different interviews: She and her husband don’t make trade decisions, they weren’t informed until mid-February, she has a long track record of complying with investment rules.

• What makes it harder is that her explanation will only fly if you believe her. There’s no smoking gun document to clear or convict her. It’s her word against her doubters.

• She has also showed that she has mastered the time-honored political tradition of not answering all the questions.

• “Who are these third-party advisers?” Fox News Channel host, Ed Henry, asked during Loeffler’s first televised interview. She ignored the query, saying “Well certainly I’m not involved in the decisions around buying and selling.”

• CNBC got nowhere asking the same question. Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson — who has made headlines by calling for Burr’s resignation and prosecution — asked twice with no luck. She wouldn’t identify them for this article, either.

Read the full story here.

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