SOMERSET, Ky. (LEX 18) — Disclosure paperwork filed on Wednesday revealed that Sen. Rand Paul failed to report his wife's investment in a company that makes a COVID-19 treatment on time.
The filing shows that on February 26, 2020, Kelley Paul purchased somewhere between $1,001 and $15,000 in Gilead, which makes remdesivir, an anti-viral drug used to treat COVID-19.
Under the 2012 Stock Act, a law put into place to stop lawmakers from trading on insider information, Paul should have reported the sale within 45 days. Paul disclosed it 16 months late.
During a stop in Somerset on Friday, Paul addressed the delay. He said it was an error.
"I apologize. I was bad on the reporting," said Paul. "See, I have to do this myself. I type it into the computer. So, about two weeks after Kelley made the stock purchase, I typed it into the computer and I thought I pressed send, and I didn't."
However, Paul and his wife defended the investment.
"We're very proud of trying to invest in a cure," said Sen. Paul.
Some reports indicate the purchase was made after Congress was briefed on the threat of the coronavirus but before the public was largely aware of the danger. However, Paul's spokesperson points to other reports, dated the day before Kelley made the purchase, that indicate the information was out in the public.
"I was thinking I was investing in a potential cure," said Kelley Paul.
She said she based her investment on the information that was available to everyone.
"Everything that I knew about it was in the public domain, in the news from the World Health Organization," she said.
There's a growing list of lawmakers from both parties who have been criticized for their stock trading before the pandemic was officially declared in March of 2020.
Members of Congress received the first of several briefings on the economic and public health threat the coronavirus posed in January of 2020.
Under the Stock Act - which stops lawmakers from trading on insider information - the sale should have been reported within 45 days.
— Karolina Buczek (@Karolina_Buczek) August 13, 2021
It was reported 16 months later.
Sen. Paul says he filled out the paperwork but forgot to press send. Says this is on him.@LEX18News pic.twitter.com/ERWcktH6az
Dr. Paul is also traveling to Russell Springs and Edmonton to talk with Kentuckians.
