Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia at the State of the Union address on March 1, 2022.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia at the State of the Union address on March 1, 2022.J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty Images
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene purchased up to $15,000 in Lockheed Martin stock two days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
  • "War is big business to our leaders," the congresswoman tweeted two days later.
  • "Add this to the list of why members of Congress should never be allowed to trade stocks," said Omar.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is facing criticism after purchasing thousands of dollars worth of stock in a major defense contractor two days before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to a financial disclosure made public on Monday, Greene purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in Lockheed Martin corporation on February 22, two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a far-reaching military campaign against the sovereign nation.

The document also reveals thousands of dollars worth of investments Greene has made in Caterpillar, Chevron, Clorox, and NextEra Energy, among others.

"Add this to the list of why members of Congress should never be allowed to trade stocks," quipped Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Twitter. Omar has been a frequent target of Greene's, with the Georgia Republican repeatedly insinuating that the Minnesota Democrat, among the first Muslim women elected to Congress, is a terrorist. Greene has also falsely claimed that Omar married her own brother. 

Greene has repeatedly blamed profit-seeking private companies for exacerbating violent conflicts. 

"War is big business to our leaders," the congresswoman declared in a tweet thread after the Russian invasion began.

But Lockheed Martin, together with Raytheon, manufactures the Javelin anti-aircraft missile that Western countries have been shipping to Ukraine's military to defend against the Russian invasion. 

In a statement to Insider, Greene said her investment advisor made the trade and touted Lockheed Martin as an "American company."

"Our investment advisor has full discretionary authority over our accounts," said Greene. "We have owned this American company for years and this small investment was part of our overall investment strategy. This was purchased along with other companies like Clorox, Walgreens, and Caterpillar to name a few."

 

Following Insider's Conflicted Congress investigation — which found that dozens of lawmakers and nearly 200 senior congressional staffers had failed to disclose stock purchases in a timely manner in violation of federal law — momentum is growing for banning lawmakers from trading stocks altogether. 

Insider also revealed how several other lawmakers with purview over the military hold significant investments in war-related industries and companies.

Omar has cosponsored both the TRUST in Congress Act and the HUMBLE Act, two of a myriad of proposals that would ban the practice. The House Committee on Administration is meeting March 16 to explore stock trading reforms in Congress. 

Greene, who ranks among Congress' most active stock traders, would not say whether she supports a stock trading ban for lawmakers.

Greene — a firebrand Republican congresswoman with a history of incendiary remarks who's been removed from her committee assignments and recently spoke at a white nationalist conference — has a fairly colorful stock trading history. For example, she's invested in companies that back the Black Lives Matter racial justice movement, despite claiming that the movement represents "the strongest terrorist threat in our county." She also invested in COVID-19 vaccine makers despite refusing to get vaccinated herself. 

Read the original article on Business Insider