Rep. Tom Price had no idea his financial manager had purchased stock in a medical device company shortly before he introduced legislation that would have helped the company last year, President-elect Trump’s team said late Monday evening.
“Any effort to connect the introduction of bipartisan legislation by Dr. Price to any campaign contribution is demonstrably false,” Phil Blando, a Trump transition spokesman, said in a statement. “The only pattern we see emerging is that Senate Democrats and their liberal media allies cannot abide the notion that Dr. Tom Price is uniquely qualified to lead HHS and will stop at nothing to smear his reputation.”
The statement came hours after CNN reported that Price, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, had invested somewhere between $1,000 and $15,000 in a medical device manufacturer called Zimmer Biomet. Days later, he introduced a bill that would have delayed the implementation of costly regulations on the manufacturing of medical devices at companies like Zimmer Biomet.
Zimmer Biomet’s political action committee later contributed $2,000 to Price’s congressional campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Price was among the 21 House Republicans who received donations from Zimmer Biomet’s PAC in 2016.
But Trump’s team said the modest stock purchase was “broker-directed” and not ordered by Price himself. Instead, transition officials said Price’s financial manager at Morgan Stanley was shuffling up his portfolio when he purchased $2,697.74 worth of Zimmer Biomet stock on March 17, 2016, without alerting the Georgia Republican.
After Price received a list of recent trades from his financial adviser in early April, he submitted them to the House under disclosure rules that require lawmakers to be transparent about their financial positions. The transition team noted that Price had begun working on the medical device legislation in September 2015, well before his broker bought a small stake in Zimmer Biomet.
The story about Price’s stock purchase, which Blando called “junk reporting,” has raised fresh questions for Price ahead of what was already expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Senate Democrats have raised concerns about Price’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have vowed to repeal at the outset of the Trump administration.
The transition team has focused on Price’s qualifications for the position of HHS secretary, noting his experience working on Obamacare alternatives in Congress and his years spent working as a physician in Georgia.
