Hypocrisy Alert: Schumer Benefited From Bank Bailout He Helped Make Happen

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has spent the week grandstanding in front of the cameras about Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Price’s stock trades. Yet as the Washington Free Beacon shows in an investigation they published yesterday, Schumer is no stranger to using his high political office for personal benefit.

During the financial crisis, Schumer was heavily involved in the creation of the bank bailout. Yet at the same time, Schumer held tens of thousands in assets at two banks that ultimately got bailed out:

“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.”

Schumer also attended a Wall Street fundraiser, which netted him $135,000, while “finalizing the details of TARP”:

“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.”

Schumer’s hypocrisy is startling. While Schumer has called for an investigation of Price, a look in the mirror might have been a better use of his time.