By Paul Waldmiller
A Washington-based watchdog group, the Campaign Legal Center asked the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) this week to investigate Republican Congressman Byron Donalds for failing to promptly report more than 100 stock trades by Donalds and his wife valued at up to $1.62 million. Donalds as a member of Congress has violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.
The Campaign Legal Center found that Naples, Florida based Donalds, who since 2021 has represented Southwest Florida from Marco Island, North to Cape Coral, “is the only member [of Congress] we found who completely failed to report any PTRs for two years.” And, “While Rep. Byron Donalds’s violations of the STOCK Act are significant, his behavior is unfortunately not an anomaly in Congress,” Payne said when its complaint was released. “There is a widespread and bipartisan trend of lawmakers failing to promptly disclose if they engage in stock trades, which fuels more ethics violations.”
Much of the American public including his own constituents may be asking Donalds, how while in Congress, he received $1.6 million? Congressman Donalds is one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters. In fact, Donalds appears nearly on a daily basis on some nationally-known news, or opinion program touting his support for the former President.
A former Western New York Congressman who was indited on similar legal charges of insider trading stocks, currently lives in Donald’s congressional district. Chris Collins was sent to federal prison in 2020 for his crimes. Since moving to Marco Island, Collins has been lobbying Trump (who pardoned Collins after only spending 2 months in prison) and the Florida Republican Party to choose him to replace Rep. Donalds if Trump wins the upcoming election and Donalds is promoted to some position within the Trump Administration.