House Minority Whip Katherine Clark celebrated Memorial Day by taking a swing at President Donald Trump, but the Massachusetts Democrat failed to do her homework before she laid into him.
“Trump is using the White House to grow richer by the day,” she claimed on X.
“As he lines his pockets, he expects Americans to get by with less. He’s motivated by one thing: greed,” Clark concluded.
Although it’s true that the most recent U.S. presidents accumulated vast sums of wealth while in, and immediately after they left office, the exact opposite is true of Trump.
Yes, Trump’s the wealthiest president on record, but he lost more than 23% of his wealth during his first term in office. He dropped $700 million — from $3.0 billion to $2.3 billion in net worth, and never took a dime in salary.
But maybe Clark had other presidents in mind — especially those from her own party.
She could have been thinking of Barack Obama. He and his wife Michelle had a combined net worth of $1.3 million when they took up residence in the White House. Shortly after leaving they were worth $70 million, increasing their wealth nearly 54 times.
Or maybe Clark had the real jackpot winners in mind — Bill and Hillary Clinton. Just like the Obamas they began their presidential journey with a $1.3 million net worth. But they were able to parlay that into a whopping $241.5 million, increasing their net worth by a factor of more than 185.
Rep. Clark also failed to disclose her own circumstances when she accused Trump of personally profiting from his office.
NASDAQ estimated her net worth at $12.4 million as of May 22. Clark’s estimated net worth in December 2013, when she entered Congress, was $6.8 million, according to Open Secrets.
Five years later her situation hadn’t changed much. Open Secrets reported that her net worth remained at about $6.8 million.
So how did she make nearly $6 million in less than seven years — to nearly doubling her net worth?
NASDAQ reported that Clark made $458,400 in stock market trades — just during the month of April. In other words she more than doubled her annual congressional salary in 22 days of stock trading.
Clark probably should have kept her mouth shut. Instead of trying (and failing) to make Trump look corrupt, she cast a spotlight on a huge issue that has plagued Congress in recent years — insider trading.
Members of Congress are often privy to information not available to the general public, making Insider trading of stocks a huge temptation.
In January 2023, The Hill reported that at least 78 members of Congress from both parties failed to report their financial trades as mandated by the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act).
That number accounts for nearly 15% of all House and Senate members.
Although insider trading would be a serious matter for the general public, it’s not so much for Congress. The penalty for members of Congress who violate the STOCK Act is a $200 fine — and even that’s often waived with a wink and a nod.
Clearly, the STOCK Act is a joke.
Last week two Senate Democrats, Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Mark Kelly of Arizona, reintroduced a bill that would put an end to congressional insider trading.
Their proposal would require members, along with their spouses and dependent children, to either place their stocks into a qualified blind trust or divest their holdings altogether.
The bill provides exceptions for trading in mutual funds, diversified exchange-traded funds, U.S. Treasury securities, compensation from a family member’s primary occupation, or investments in government employee retirement plans.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Montana Republican, reintroduced his own version of the same bill last month, shortly after Trump promised he would “absolutely” sign any legislation to prevent congressional insider trading.
Getting either bill passed would be like getting Congress to approve term limits upon itself, but when Rep. Clark tried to claim Trump was corrupt, all she did was to call attention to her own situation and increase public awareness of the problem.
Clark has a law degree from Cornell University, and therefore she has to know the Miranda warnings that caution each arrestee: “You have the right to remain silent” and “if you choose to waive that right, anything you say can and will be used against you.”
Clark should probably have taken that advice herself. Meanwhile, her constituents should recall an observation of one of Clark’s own party leaders from an earlier era.
President Harry S. Truman once remarked that “you can’t get rich in politics, unless you’re a crook.”
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He’s also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz’s Reports — More Here.
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