Elon Musk has joined the discussion regarding politicians and their investments. The billionaire recently addressed Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard's conversation about Nancy Pelosi allegedly outperforming Warren Buffett in stock picks.
Carlson and Gabbard delved into how political figures such as Pelosi have amassed significant wealth, possibly capitalising on their insights into policy. Musk reacted to a snippet of the conversation shared by Mario Nawfal.
🇺🇸TUCKER: HOW DID NANCY PELOSI GET SO RICH?
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 26, 2024
Tucker: "I have no clue at all how Nancy Pelosi is just so rich or how her stock picks are, like, way better than Warren Buffett's. How does that happen?"
Tulsi Gabbard: "There should be no perception that our elected leaders are… pic.twitter.com/8SnFsWkbG8
"I have no clue at all how Nancy Pelosi is just so rich or how her stock picks are, like, way better than Warren Buffett's. How does that happen?" Carlson asked.
Former Congresswoman Gabbard responded, "There should be no perception that our elected leaders are profiting from the knowledge they possess as policymakers, which directly influences industries and businesses.
That's a no-brainer to me. When I was in Congress, I introduced legislation to address this issue." Expressing surprise in the comments section of this X post, they wrote "!!."
!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024
Breaking: Pelosi invests in pre-IPO company Databricks (by using Forge's secondary markets platform) pic.twitter.com/Tf4Tdx8ym0
— congresstrading.com (@congresstrading) March 22, 2024
Congressional members, including Pelosi, have previously faced scrutiny for their trading activities, particularly from retail traders. According to a recent disclosure, Pelosi invests in a pre-IPO artificial intelligence company.
Congressional trading and conflicts of Interest
Pelosi and her husband recently increased their wealth through transactions in NVIDIA Corporation options. Nvidia reported a profit of $12.3 (£9.75) billion in the recently concluded quarter, primarily attributed to the surging demand for its chips to drive artificial intelligence.
NANCY PELOSI FULL UPDATED PORTFOLIO BY WEIGHTING:$NVDA $AAPL $MSFT $GOOGL $CRWD round up the top 5.
— amit (@amitisinvesting) March 23, 2024
I actually didn’t know she had 3% of her portfolio in $TSLA Tesla… pic.twitter.com/dmp7y6V48b
Similarly, UK chip designer Arm Holdings witnessed its shares nearly double in February as tech entrepreneurs seek fresh avenues to capitalise on the AI boom. Regrettably, Pelosi and her husband failed to capitalise on a potentially larger profit.
This vital information was revealed in a filing on November 22, with the actual transaction valued at approximately $1.8 (£1.43) million.
An ETF that tracks the stock trades of Democratic members of Congress, named after Pelosi, has surpassed the performance of the S&P 500, partly due to its significant tech holdings. This ETF's success underscores the potential impact of congressional trading on market perceptions and investor strategies.
It has also come to light that Pelosi is investing up to $5 (£3.96) million in a San Francisco-based company. Recently surfaced documents shed light on Pelosi's investment transaction with privately held Databricks, a software company based on AI technology. The transaction occurred on March 3 and was officially disclosed on March 21.
While Databricks is the newest addition to Pelosi's successful portfolio of Big Tech, it is worth noting that she has invested $16 (£12.69) million in eight major names since 2022, according to a report by DailyMail.
Government officials and stock trading regulations
While Pelosi did not violate any laws by engaging in stock transactions, many Americans and government officials have labelled the investments as conflicts of interest. They argue Pelosi has the power to impact businesses since she has access to confidential intelligence.
"There should be no perception that our elected officials are profiting off of the knowledge that they have as policy makers"
— Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker ♟ (@PelosiTracker_) March 26, 2024
It really is that simple https://t.co/4KIyf18neC pic.twitter.com/STN6uwmIX0
On March 18, Databricks announced a collaboration with Nvidia, one of the Big Tech companies in which Pelosi has invested. However, there is a lack of evidence to suggest that she engaged in insider trading when buying and selling stocks.
Furthermore, no laws currently prohibit government officials from engaging in such activities. It is worth noting that Pelosi stepped down from her role as Speaker of the House in 2022. Nonetheless, she continues to hold a position in Congress.
"From an ethical perspective, I believe it is extremely harmful for politicians to trade individual stocks. There are numerous jobs out there that don't allow employees from trading, yet our most powerful [A]mericans can," Chris Josephs, co-founder of Autopilot, told Investing.com.
Pelosi's net worth was estimated to be over $100 (£79.28) million, yet the annual salary for House of Representatives and Senate members is approximately $223,500 (£177199.74).
Most stock transactions (purchases and sales) have been attributed to her husband, Paul. However, the law mandates that spouses of public officials must report financial transactions valued at more than $1,000 (£792.84).
