Jacky Rosen targeted by GOP groups over discredited stock allegations

Two Republican groups are funding TV ad campaigns that accuse Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of insider trading and other financial misconduct. These claims are false and can be disproven with publicly available financial disclosure records.

Rosen is seeking a second term as Nevada’s U.S. Senator. Her Republican opponent is Army veteran Sam Brown.

One ad, titled “Suggestion,” is being run by Win it Back PAC, a group associated with the far-right Club for Growth. The ad’s voiceover accuses Rosen of “choosing to break the law that bans insider trading by members of Congress” and claims she concealed assets from federal regulators.

A similar set of accusations appears in an ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which supports Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate. This ad repeats the insider trading charge and further alleges that Rosen failed to disclose her ownership in a family trust.

That trust, however, literally has Rosen’s name on it: the Larry and Jacklyn Rosen Family Trust. Rosen disclosed her ownership in the trust on every campaign finance disclosure from her first campaign for office in 2016.

Last month, Rosen amended her financial disclosures dating back to 2018 to include her official title of “trustee” of the trust. The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, claimed this was proof that she hid her ownership in the entity, which is not true.

The NRSC ad sources the insider trading claim to a report that Rosen failed to disclose up to $30,000 in stock trades in 2017. The 2012 STOCK Act requires all federal lawmakers to report all stock transactions within 45 days. 

The stocks in question were owned by Rosen and her spouse. The transactions, however, were “automatic trades,” resulting from corporate actions like mergers, spinoffs, or acquisitions. In each case, insider trading would not have been possible.

The transactions were reported late, by 50 days and 68 days respectively. This is not proof of insider trading nor is it a criminal offense.

Rosen has not personally bought a stock since being elected to office. She has not sold a stock in more than five years.

Rosen has not been investigated or fined for her stock activity.

The falsehoods in the ads are further undercut by the fact that Rosen co-sponsored the ETHICS Act, a bipartisan bill that seeks to ban members of congress and their spouses from holding, buying, or selling stocks.

“No member of Congress should ever be allowed to enrich themselves through corrupt stock trading using information gained through their official duties,” Rosen said in a May press release. “We need to clean up Washington and ensure all lawmakers are actually serving the public interest, which is why I’m supporting this common-sense legislation to prevent members of Congress from abusing their taxpayer-funded position for personal financial gain.”

An Emerson College poll from September showed Rosen leading Brown by seven percentage points.