For years. the word in Washington has been that working for Chuck Schumer will lead to a golden parachute. Schumer staffers go on to make serious bank.
This is a far cry from the Chuck Schumer we see on television, railing against greedy Republicans. This week, Schumer and his goons set their sights on Rep. Tom Price, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price is the man who will help repeal Obamacare, and Schumer and Dems have alleged that Price is unfit because he used his office to enrich himself. Those allegations turned out to be nothing more than a vicious Democratic smear.
But what about Schumer? Is he clean? Nope. Turns out the top Senate Dem has some issues of his own. As the Washington Free Beacon reports:
Congressional records show that Schumer, who has relied extensively on Wall Street fundraising, held investments in banks that were bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) while he served on the Finance and Banking Committees that were tasked with overseeing the $700 billion rescue package.
Financial disclosures from 2008 show Schumer held assets valued between $15,001 and $50,000 in Morgan Stanley and $1,001 to $15,000 in Citibank. Though Schumer’s assets in the banks constituted savings not stock, the two companies were granted billions of dollars under TARP. The federal program doled out $10 billion to Morgan Stanley and another $25 billion to Citibank.
While finalizing the details of TARP in Sept. 2008, Schumer attended a breakfast fundraiser in Manhattan to meet with about 20 banking executives. Though Schumer warned a bank bailout would be difficult to pass through Congress, he left an impression on executives that Democrats would stand by Wall Street.
Schumer a week later received more than $135,000 in donations from executives whose firms were represented at the breakfast.
Additionally, as the Free Beacon reported last week, Schumer also owned securities that likely benefitted from policies he advocated while serving in an official capacity.
While pursuing a federal takeover of mortgage insurers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008, Schumer held thousands of dollars in bonds with the companies. The minority leader had purchased the bonds in 2002, arguing a year later against heightened regulations against the firms.
Just a few months after the Treasury Department announced it would place the enterprises into conservatorship in 2008, Schumer redeemed between $15,000 and $50,000 in Fannie Mae bonds. The next year, he redeemed between $31,000 and $115,000 in Freddie Mac bonds.
We dont’ know if Price, or any Republican for that matter, is perfect. Politicians are politicians, and they’ve been misbehaving for centuries. But we know that it takes a lot of chutzpah for someone like Chuck Schumer to hurl accusations, given his track record. We hope Congressional Republicans take a look at this.
