Sen. Jim Inhofe: insider trading allegations "are completely baseless and 100% false"

News broke today that U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) made sold millions of dollars worth of stock around the time senators received closed-door briefings in January on the then-impending COVID-19 outbreak, leading some media outlets and figures to speculate that illegal insider trading may have occurred.

From conservative columnist Erick Erickson: things don't look so good for Burr and Loeffler.

Since the story originally broke, records indicated that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) sold stocks around the same time period, pulling them into the potential scandal. Sen. Inhofe denies any impropriety and maintains that everything was above board.

Inhofe released the following statement this morning:

Inhofe Statement on New York Times Allegations

(March 20th, 2020) U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) made the following statement:

“The New York Times allegations are completely baseless and 100 percent false. I was not at the briefing on January 24. I was meeting with pro-life kids from Oklahoma here for the March for Life and the new nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania.

“I do not have any involvement in my investment decisions. In December 2018, shortly after becoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I instructed my financial advisor to move me out of all stocks and into mutual funds to avoid any appearance of controversy. My advisor has been doing so faithfully since that time and I am not aware of or consulted about any transactions.”

Background:

In December 2018, Inhofe’s portfolio was 100% equities.

As of February 2020, his portfolio is 60% funds, 40% equities. His advisor has not bought an individual stock on his behalf since December 2018.