A New York Times analysis revealed Tuesday that Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) is one of at least 97 members of Congress who “bought or sold stock, bonds or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child.”
Axne — one of the most vulnerable congressional candidates in the country and the only Democrat elected to Congress in Iowa — reportedly had traded assets with 43 companies with 13 potential conflicts, as she sits on the Agriculture Committee, the Financial Services Committee, and the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance.
The Times noted that the most alarming trades were when the congresswoman and her husband reportedly made four purchases of Wells Fargo stock while one of the committees she sits on — the House Financial Services Committee — was investigating the bank over fake accounts and other misdeeds.
The Times noted that Axne’s office “declined to comment” on its inquiry into the matter.
“U.S. lawmakers are not banned from investing in any company, including those that could be affected by their decisions,” the Times explained its analysis. The report further explained that government ethics experts have acknowledged that “the trading patterns uncovered … underscore longstanding concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest or use of inside information by members of Congress, government ethics experts say.”
Following the news of the Times report Axne has taken heat from her Republican challenger, Zach Nunn, and GOP committees who are looking to help him unseat her.
Mike Berg, a spokesman from the National Republican Congressional Committee, slammed Axne by stating she “may be the most crooked politician to ever represent Iowa in Congress.”
“Iowans deserve real answers from Axne and her husband. Having this type of corruption on the federal level is unacceptable and not what Iowans expect from their representatives,” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann added. “This type of corruption should not be tolerated. Axne must begin answering questions.”
Lydia Hall, Nunn’s communications director, said in a lengthy statement that the campaign was not shocked to hear Axne had “used her congressional powers to get rich.”
Hall added:
We aren’t shocked to hear that Cindy Axne has used her congressional powers to get rich. While she shadily makes a buck, we’re struggling under Biden-Axne’s massive spending bills which raised Iowans’ taxes and cost families an extra $5,000 in inflation. Axne is one of the most corrupt politicians in D.C. and one of the most liberal. She has been caught illegally insider stock trading and taking dark money from PACs. She lied to Iowans with verified false campaign attack ads. She lied about her voting record, claiming she’s bipartisan but in reality voting with Biden even more than progressives like AOC. Axne always says one thing but does another. Here in Iowa, we call that untrustworthy. Iowans deserve better.
While the Times analysis acknowledged that Axne has potential conflicts, members of Congress are required by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 to submit a periodic transaction report with the Clerk of the House of Representatives within 30 to 45 days of stock transactions over $1,000 made on behalf of themselves or their spouses. Lawmakers are also subject to a $200 fine for filing late.
Last year, the ethics watchdog Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed an ethics complaint against Axne, calling for an investigation into her failure to report stock transactions within the allotted time as required by the STOCK Act.
Breitbart News wrote last year:
The complaint stated that in 2019 and 2020, Axne “appears to have purchased and sold more than 40 assets with a total value ranging from approximately $43,043 to $645,000 without disclosing the transactions,” noting that while the congresswoman “disclosed the ownership of these assets on her annual financial disclosures” she allegedly “did not file any corresponding periodic transaction reports (‘PTRs’).”
Axne’s asset changes happened to occur when the congresswoman sat on the House Committee on Financial Services, and the complaint noted that her assets included Visa, Mastercard, Wells Fargo, and SS&C Technology Holdings. CLC said that due to her alleged lack of PTRs, the ethics office should investigate to “determine whether the differences in Rep. Axne’s 2019 and 2020 reports are the result of reportable transactions,” which is a violation of the STOCK Act and the House rules.
The STOCK Act passed Congress and was signed into law in 2012 after getting substantial bipartisan support in both chambers. The legislation was introduced and quickly signed into law due to Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer exposing corruption in the highest echelons of elected life in his 2011 release of Throw Them All Out.
Schweizer’s book exposed many elected officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The book revealed the corruption concerns among Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, forcing Congress to adopt the STOCK Act, which implemented stricter reporting and ethics requirements for lawmakers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R) gestures during talks with Hiroyuki Hosoda (not pictured), speaker of Japans House of Representatives, during a meeting in Tokyo on August 5, 2022. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/Afp/AFP via Getty Images)
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.