Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says that his failure to properly disclose his wife’s pre-pandemic investment into an antiviral drug initially used to treat COVID-19 patients was an honest mistake.
But the late disclosure, which Paul finally lodged Wednesday 16 months after it was due, has nevertheless raised new questions about what he knew and เกมสล็อต when, especially given that the Kentucky Republican has served as one of Washington’s most ardent skeptics of masks and other government measures meant to slow the virus’s spread since the beginning of the pandemic last year. And it has once again highlighted the weakness of federal laws meant to prevent members of Congress from trading on insider knowledge, and generated calls to strengthen those provisions or ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks outright.
Paul’s wife, Kelley Paul, purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 of stock in Gilead Sciences in February 2020, weeks before the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a global pandemic, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Gilead manufactures remdesivir, an antiviral treatment health officials recommended as a potential COVID medication during the pandemic’s early stages. (The World Health Organization later advised against using the drug.)
There is no concrete evidence that Paul’s wife bought the stock because she realized early on — through her husband — that the COVID pandemic was real and would necessitate massive intervention from companies like Gilead, though it’s notable that this is the only instance in 10 years where the Pauls purchased shares of an individual stock, as CNBC reported Thursday.