The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that it is closing its investigations into three senators who drew scrutiny for their stock trades during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) were recently told that the DOJ has closed investigations into their sales according to reports.
Loeffler’s trades were given particular scrutiny because she is facing an election battle in November and she has only been a member of the Senate since January of 2020.
The Georgia senator has called criticism of her stock trades, which included purchases in companies manufacturing protective gear, a “socialist attack.”
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), who is running against Loeffler for her seat in the senate, immediately criticized her after the initial reports of her stock trades.
In a tweet, he wrote, “People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain? I’m sickened just thinking about it.”
People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain? I'm sickened just thinking about it.
— Doug Collins (@CollinsforGA) March 20, 2020
Loeffler and Feinstein both claimed that they had no input into their sales. In March, a spokesperson for Feinstein said “All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust,” adding, “She has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions.”
There was speculation over whether the senators traded on non-public information after they received briefings on the coronavirus pandemic as it was worsening.
But while the investigations into Feinstein, Loeffler and Inhofe have closed, Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is still at the center of a federal investigation centering on his trades during the coronavirus pandemic.
Burr has since stepped down from his powerful role as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The North Carolina lawmaker previously announced that he would not run for re-election when his term ends in 2022.
