Rep. Dan Crenshaw explains his stock trades during the pandemic as Democrats pounce

Democrats are slamming U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw for failing to timely disclose that he was trading stocks during the start of the pandemic, a violation of laws meant to prevent members of Congress from using their offices for profiteering. “If you are a Texas elected official, your first job in a crisis is to keep Texans safe. Instead, Dan Crenshaw was thinking about his portfolio,” said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa. In March 2020, the Houston Republican made five stock transactions while Congress was shaping the first COVID-19 relief package. According to the since-filed disclosure reports, Crenshaw bought stock in Amazon, Southwest Airlines, Boeing, North Carolina-based SPX and Houston-based Kinder Morgan, which owns and operates oil and gas pipelines and terminals. He also bought a stake in an index fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500.

Crenshaw, first elected in 2018, didn’t report the trades within 45 days as required by congressional ethics laws. Instead, he reported them in December, a month after winning his second term in the Nov. 3 election. “Any reporting issues were unintentional and are being corrected immediately,” Crenshaw said about the late paperwork, which was first reported by The Daily Beast. Because Congress reports stock transactions in ranges of $1,001 to $15,000, it appears Crenshaw could have bought up to $120,000 in stock during that time. A Crenshaw spokesman said it was actually $13,000. “My highest transaction was around $3,000,” Crenshaw said. “I’m not the Wolf of Wall Street, I’m a 36-year-old who listens to Dave Portnoy and Jim Cramer for stock advice.” Crenshaw was hardly alone in trading stocks while Congress was working on the first COVID-19 relief package.