Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings for investments he made while serving in Congress. The Georgia lawmaker traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.
Price testified at the time that his trades were lawful and transparent. Democrats accused him of potentially using his office to enrich himself. One lawmaker called for an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing concerns Price could have violated the STOCK Act, a 2012 law signed by President Obama that clarified that members of Congress cannot use nonpublic information for profit and requires them to promptly disclose their trades.
The investigation of Price’s trades by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, was underway at the time of Bharara’s dismissal, said the person.
“I did not resign,” he wrote in one tweet over the weekend. “Moments ago I was fired.”
“By the way,” Bharara said in a second tweet, “now I know what the Moreland Commission must have felt like."
Bharara was referring to a commission that was launched by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013 to investigate state government corruption, only to be disbanded by the governor the next year as its work grew close to his office. In that case, Bharara vowed to continue the commission’s work, and eventually charged Cuomo associates and won convictions of several prominent lawmakers.
This may be history repeating itself. Bharara did continue the Moreland Commission’s work successfully and there is every indication that he’s not done with Tom Price. There is plenty for Bharara to investigate. In late January Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an ethics investigation of Tom Price, precedent to his nomination confirmation. At that time Price's conflicts of interests were glaringly apparent and Schumer told CNN, "Now they say there's a broker. It's kind of strange that this broker would pick this stock totally independently of him [Price] introducing legislation that's so narrow and specific to this company." ProPublica reported:
Kaiser Health News reported that Price was given a “sweetheart” deal to invest in an Australian biotech company — a stake that has since showed a 400 percent gain. That company could benefit from the 21st Century Cures legislation Price supported. And this week, CNN reported that Price invested in Zimmer Biomet before introducing a bill that could have helped the medical device manufacturer. The company’s political action committee then donated $1,000 to Price’s campaign.
The Trump camp has since said the Zimmer Biomet purchase was made by Price’s broker, and that Price did not know about the transaction at the time he introduced the legislation that could have given the company a boost. Price has maintained that he abided by the law and took no legislative action for personal profit.
Price’s actions have come under scrutiny in the past. In 2010, the Office of Congressional Ethics, an official government watchdog, found that there was “substantial reason” to believe that Price solicited or accepted donations at a fundraiser in a manner that could have created the appearance that “special treatment or access was provided to donors or that contributions were linked to an official act.”
Along with the Price matter, Bharara’s former office is investigating allegations relating to Fox News, and has been urged by watchdog groups to look into payments Trump has received from foreign governments through his Manhattan-based business. Bharara’s former deputy, Joon Kim, is now in charge of the office, but Trump is expected to nominate his replacement within weeks.
That's an interesting case load in Bharara's former office, without question. Fox News, Tom Price, and Trump's payments from foreign governments, made to his Manhattan business. Just scratching the surface it is evident why Trump reneged on his original request to Bharara to stay on. Things got too hot too fast. The heat was already on from Schumer regarding Price and the Bharara firing last week is only serving to intensify matters. If anything it’s strengthened Bharara’s resolve to bring Tom Price to ground. Schumer and Bharara haven’t gone away, it’s just the calm before the storm and things do not look good for Tom Price.