Is he or isn’t he?
That is the question Representative Rob Bresnahan (R-08), which will not disappear. Is he actively involved in transactions in his securities portfolio? Does he trade stocks and bonds based on insider knowledge?
The freshman congressman is unable to give up constant scrutiny, in part because of his own comments.
Last spring, Bresnahan said Bob Cordaro show on WILK-AM radio in Wilkes-Barre and made a slip of the tongue when he said he might be more involved than he had previously let on.
“I mean, I’m meeting with my financial advisor,” Bresnahan said. “We’re talking about what different positions will come up.”
This statement is strikingly different from the NEPA Republican’s previous denials that he was engaged in busy management of his portfolio.
Bresnahan, who during her 2024 campaign promised to end congressional stock trading, said two months after the interview: “I have no dialogue with my financial advisors regarding trades made on my behalf.”
In its latest periodic transaction report entitled – he wrote as an addition“All investment decisions relating to my personal financial portfolio are delegated to professional financial advisors. I do not play any role in the specific investment decisions nor am I informed about them before they are made. As such, these transactions have been planned and executed by a financial advisor.”
The audio release sparked the ire of a former Pennsylvania congressman Jim Lockwood who calls on the freshman representative to resign.
“Congressman Bresnahan’s own admission that he discusses his stock positions with his financial advisor is a red line that a public official should never cross and is a clear abuse of power,” he wrote on social media. “It has become clear that Congressman Bresnahan is using his office to benefit himself, not the people of Pennsylvania he was elected to represent, and he must resign immediately.
“I have proudly represented Pennsylvania in Congress as a Republican for over a decade, but addressing corruption and restoring trust and integrity in the House is not a partisan issue. Republicans, independents, and Democrats should unite and say with a united voice that it is unacceptable for our elected officials, like Congressman Bresnahan, to profit from their votes in Congress.”
Bresnahan campaign spokesman Chris’s package he said POLICY that Bresnahan’s comments “were related to a 30,000-foot investing strategy, not stock trading, and that is clear in the context of the interview.”
Democratic challenger Paige Cognetti called the audio release “disgusting”.
“Rob Bresnahan admitted that he discussed his future stock positions with his financial advisor,” she wrote on social media. “This is on tape of him saying. Rob was going through his portfolio, voting to distort health care and raise costs. That’s the definition of corruption.”
According to his latest Periodic transaction reportBresnahan’s investment vehicle is the JP Morgan No. 4 brokerage account. Discretionary investment advisory account is an account “in which you authorize JPMS and/or another affiliated or unaffiliated Portfolio Manager to act as your investment advisor. You grant JPMS and/or the Portfolio Manager the authority to invest on your behalf by buying and selling securities in your account and making all investment decisions for your account.”
However, according to JP Morgan Wealth Management website Chase.com also states that “Your dedicated advisor will take the time to understand your short- and long-term goals and create a personalized financial strategy tailored to where you are and what you want to achieve. Your advisor will proactively contact you to revisit your strategy and make sure your plan stays on track with changing markets, changing priorities and life milestones.”
Pack called questions about Bresnahan’s investments “ridiculous abuses.”
“To suggest that Rob has the equivalent of a routine annual 401(k) meeting with his financial advisors to discuss risk tolerance amounts with respect to insider trading would imply that any member of Congress or congressional staffer who discusses risk tolerance in retirement planning is also engaged in insider trading,” he stated.
