A media company linked to the former president donald trump got off to a rough start with stock prices tankage and the company value decreasing every day.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., doesn’t seem eager to discuss the struggling business, years after she bought shares in a company that helped Trump’s business go public in Nasdaq.
Asked by CNBC and NBC News, Greene declined to say what happened to her shares in Digital World Acquisition Corp., which, through a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group, recently began trading publicly as DJT. The share price is down at least 45% month to date.
Trump Media is the parent company of the former president’s social media app, Truth Social. DWAC shareholders officially voted to approve the merger with Trump Media in order to take the company public on March 22, with the company debuting on the Nasdaq on March 26.
Greene is one of two members of Congress who have disclosed purchasing stock in Digital World Acquisition Corp. She and Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., purchased shares of the company in October 2021, according to financial disclosure reports, the same month they company announced that it had completed a deal with Trump Media to merge the two entities, with the goal of having Trump’s businesses publicly traded on the stock market.
Greene purchased shares of DWAC on Oct. 22, 2021, just days after the merger was announced, for an amount ranging from $15,000 to $50,000, according to his official financial disclosure filings with Congress. DWAC Stock Opened negotiation that day at $118.80 and ended around $67.
Bucshon purchased DWAC shares on Oct. 25, 2021, for between $1,000 and $15,000, according to a financial disclosure. DWAC Shares closed a day for about $83.
If either of the two lawmakers were still investors in DWAC now, they could have lost thousands — up to $32,500 in Greene’s case — according to Chris Josephs, co-founder of the stock trading app Autopilot. Josephs noted that Bucshon could have lost as much as $8,900 as the stock price fell.
A spokesperson for Bucshon confirmed to CNBC and NBC News that the Indiana lawmaker still owns shares of the now-merged media company despite the drop in share price.
“Congressman Bucshon has taken no additional action regarding his investment in DWAC since his initial purchase in October 2021 and has fully complied with all disclosure requirements mandated by federal law related to this trade,” the spokesperson said in a statement .
He did not respond to questions about why Bucshon continued to hold the shares, which closed at $32 on Thursday, marking a 54% drop in share price since the shares debuted on the Nasdaq in March. The company also erased all of its gains since shares began trading under the ticker DJT at $70.90.
Bucshon’s most recent annual financial disclosure shows he entered 2023 with DWAC shares valued in the range of $1,001 to $15,000.
But Greene would not say what happened to her shares since her original purchase and her public disclosures did not show that she sold shares of DWAC or Trump Media, according to documents filed by LegiStorm, raising questions among ethics lawyers. about what happened to Greene’s actions.
When asked about the status of her DWAC shares, Greene’s spokesman Nick Dyer said via email that Greene “holds no shares at this time as reflected in her financial disclosure.”
He did not return requests for comment on what happened to her shares in the company.
Greene also did not say when asked by NBC News on Wednesday what happened to her Trump Media shares. “This is a waste of time. I think you can read my reports and see what I have,” she said.
“Where is her stash?” Richard Painter, former George W. Bush White House ethics lawyer, in a telephone interview.
He and other ethics lawyers offered some potential reasons why Greene would not have included the actions in his recent disclosures.
If she still owns DWAC stock and the estimated value of the asset is less than $1,000, she won’t need to disclose it, according to Campaign Legal Center general counsel Kedric Payne.
Another plausible scenario is that Greene recently sold his shares. In that case, she would not have to disclose the sale for up to 45 days, according to Painter. She also could have lost the asset during the 2022 divorce proceedings with her then-husband, Painter said, noting that if the shares were gifted through a divorce settlement, it may not be considered an asset transaction. Greene finalized her divorce in December 2022, according to Business Insider.
“She has to explain what the hell happened,” Painter explained.
Lawmakers are not prohibited from trading or holding individual stocks and other investments. But under the STOCK Act, members of Congress must report any trades within 45 days.
Some members of Congress and outside groups have long argued that members of Congress should not be allowed to trade stocks while serving as elected officials. But legislation that would prohibit them from trading individual stocks languished in Congress.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
