Cross posted from The Richmonder
UPDATE: Ryan’s staff has responded and TPM accepts their explanation and calls this story “debunked.”
It should probably come as no surprise to anyone that someone like Paul Ryan would trade on inside information gained through his position as a congressman to line his pockets, but this particular instance is especially egregious. Ryan attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, Bush’s Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on September 18, 2008. The purpose of the meeting was to disclose the coming economic meltdown and beg Congress to pass legislation to help collapsing banks.
Instead of doing anything to help, Ryan left the meeting and on that very same day Paul Ryan sold shares of stock he owned in several troubled banks and reinvested the proceeds in Goldman Sachs, a bank that the meeting had disclosed was not in trouble. This is the guy Republicans want one heartbeat away from the presidency? He seems more than a little shady to me.
Have a look at Ryan’s financial disclosure form for 2008–you can click on each page to enlarge them. The “Transactions” section begins on page 12–scroll through and look at all the trades Paul Ryan made on “9-18-08”:
Hat tip to Open Secrets for making Paul Ryan’s 2008 financial disclosure available online.
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