WATCH: New DPG Digital Ad Calls Out Loeffler Among Senators Who “Helped Themselves” to Timely Stock Deals While Downplaying Coronavirus Threat

Loeffler and her husband sold-off millions and invested in companies involved in telework and medical supplies after a private Senate briefing while claiming “the economy is strong”

ATLANTA — Today, the Democratic Party of Georgia is releasing a new digital ad highlighting unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler’s “unseemly” trading history during the coronavirus outbreak. 

Loeffler has spent the past two weeks entangled in a stock trading scandal after reports that she and her husband, NYSE Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, sold off millions in stocks following a private Senate briefing while Loeffler publicly downplayed the coronavirus threat. Even worse, Loeffler and her husband invested in a telework firm and “a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments” during the crisis.

WATCH:

Key quotes:

“While Americans are looking to Congress for help during this tough economic time, several Senators are reportedly having helped themselves.” -MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle

“Outrage tonight after several Republican U.S. Senators reportedly sold off stock after attending a private briefing on the coronavirus outbreak in January.” – Fox 5

“A call today for resignations and investigations after news broke that Georgia’s U.S. senators made stock trades after an early briefing about the coronavirus.” -WSB

“Records show Loeffler and her husband, whose company owns the U.S. Stock Exchange, sold stock valued between $1.3 and $3.1 million in the weeks before the market tanked.” -11 Alive

“[Loeffler] also purchased shares of Citrix, which is a company that offers teleworking software which of course is in high demand as most Americans are working from home.” -CBS 46

“[Loeffler’s] husband recently acquired as much as $415,000 in stock in a chemical company that manufactures protective equipment in high demand due to COVID-19.” -Fox 5

“Loeffler did attend the big virus briefing and tweeted afterward about the work being done to ‘Keep our country safe and healthy.’ Then she and her husband…sold hundreds of thousands in stock.” – WJCL

“You knew this information, you took that information and made personal financial decisions based on that.” -Ruhle

This new ad highlights the disastrous coverage Loeffler is facing as a result of the fallout from her stock trading scandal. Already, Loeffler has faced bipartisan outrage along with scathing criticism from national and local editorial boards like the Savannah Morning News. One Republican candidate has already called for Loeffler’s resignation as a result of her stock scandal.

“Senator Loeffler’s stock trading in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak is just the latest example of how she would rather help herself than help Georgia families,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Even after her ‘unseemly’ trades came to light, Loeffler still won’t clearly answer questions about her trading history during a public health crisis. It’s time for Loeffler to be honest with Georgia voters and call for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation to answer any and all questions about her shady stock transactions.”

Read the Democratic Party of Georgia’s timeline below for a full break-down of Loeffler’ stock trading scandal:

January 24th: Loeffler’s Senate HELP Committee hosts a private all-Senate briefing on the coronavirus threat — the same day as her first reported joint stock sale. 

SELL – January 31st: Loeffler’s husband dumps nearly $100,000 worth of retail stocks — one of their first major sell-offs in the retail industry ahead of a nationwide downturn.

BUY – February 14th: Loeffler buys $168,000 of stock in Citrix Systems, Inc., a teleworking software company, along with another $168,000 in Oracle, which will go on to work with the federal government to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

SELL – February 26th: Loeffler’s husband and New York Stock Exchange Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher sells off $3.5 million worth of stock in their company ICE, just over 30 days after Loeffler’s private Senate briefing — the amount of notice ICE requires executives to give before buying or selling shares.

BUY – February 28th: Loeffler’s husband buys over $100,000 worth of stock in DuPont, “a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments.” Over the next few weeks, her husband will buy another $100,000 worth of DuPont stock while Loeffler still downplays the coronavirus threat.

BUY – March 10th: Loeffler claims “the economy is strong” and “jobs are growing” even after she and her husband dumped stocks — and the very same day her husband makes another $12,000 purchase of DuPont stock.

SELL – March 11th: Loeffler and Sprecher sell off another $15.3 million worth of ICE shares — just one day after her claim that “the economy is strong.”

March 20th: As the Daily Beast breaks the news of Loeffler’s stock sell-off scandal, one Republican candidate openly calls for her resignation and calls her “unfit to represent Georgia” as Republican House Speaker David Ralston expresses worries about “down-ticket damage.”

March 21st: The New York Times editorial board calls for the Senate to launch a full ethics investigation “and, if warranted…criminal prosecution” against Loeffler, and the Savannah Morning News decries her “potential illicit profiteering” and says the “Justice Department and…Securities and Exchange Commission should get involved.”

March 23rd: The SEC issues “a sharp warning” against using “nonpublic information” to trade on the coronavirus outbreak while refusing to comment on whether Loeffler and Sprecher are under investigation — the same day that Mitch McConnell’s super PAC, which had previously spent to boost Loeffler, leaves Georgia off its list of ad buys.

March 27th: Even more members of Loeffler’s own party distance themselves from her, with one prominent conservative calling the accusations against her “very relevant.” Outside Republican groups that previously backed Loeffler, meanwhile, “are now turning their attention elsewhere at a pivotal moment in her campaign.”

March 29th: A new report reveals the DOJ and the SEC have launched a probe into lawmakers’ stock transactions during the coronavirus outbreak, coming nearly a week after the SEC issued a warning against insider trading during the pandemic and refused to state whether Loeffler and her husband were under investigation.

March 31st: New disclosures reveal even more stock sell-offs by Loeffler and her husband while she continued to downplay the threat of coronavirus — and show investments made “in a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments.”

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