Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, responded to accusations that he sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of Boeing stock in the weeks before Congress released a critical report on the aerospace company.

Reporting by The Daily Beast alleges that Garcia may have taken part in what is essentially insider trading, citing late disclosure filing, a common issue amongst representatives, as evidence of the transgression.

Representatives for Garcia pointed out that he, as a member of the minority party, was not aware of the subject report until it was released. He also engaged in no meetings or hearings on the subject. This makes claims of insider trading an impossibility. In short, he was not privy to any information that wasn’t public domain.

“This is a desperate attempt to resurrect a previously failed partisan attack – three years after the fact – from a hyper-partisan publication,” said Liam Anderson, spokesman for Garcia. “The fact is Congressman Garcia started to divest from companies as soon as he was elected in May 2020, and, as a newly-elected Member of the minority, he had no insight to the Democrat-written and controlled report in reference.”

After winning the spring 2020 special election for CA-25 (now CA-27 due to redistricting) against democratic challenger Christy Smith for the open seat vacated by Congresswoman Katie Hill, Garcia began divesting from companies.

Under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, members of Congress must disclose transactions over $1,000 within 45 days, and prohibits “Members of Congress and employees of Congress from using nonpublic information derived from their official positions for personal  benefit, and for other purposes.”

Initial reporting pointed out that the timing of the August sale appeared to precede a September 19, 2020, report released by Congressional Democrats on Boeing’s role in the 737 Max crashes.

Of note, the report had little impact on Boeing’s stock price, according to NASDAQ records.

By 2021, Garcia had sold off most of his stock ownership, with the exception of Tesla, according to financial documents.

Garcia’s office pointed out that regardless of his status as a newcomer at the time, and as such less likely to be familiar with the filing requirements, the late filing issue is not an uncommon issue, usually resulting in a $200 fine according to reporting from Business Insider.

“Congressman Garcia immediately rectified the accidental late filing,” Anderson continued, “Everything is filed and everything is public.” People are sick of these blatant lies and see right through these lazy attempts to smear their political opponents.”

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