Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has violated a federal conflicts-of-interest and insider trading law by failing to properly disclose sales of Amazon and Tesla stock.

Evans was three and a half months late in revealing his sale of between $15,001 and $50,000 in Amazon stock and between $1,001 and $15,000 in Tesla stock, an OpenSecrets review of congressional financial records indicates. 

Evans sold his shares on Oct. 29, a week before Election Day, but did not disclose the fact until this week.

The trades and their timing are especially notable given recent political actions by the leaders of Tesla and Amazon.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a Republican Party megadonor whom President Donald Trump empowered to reshape the government workforce. Jeff Bezos, the executive chairman of Amazon, torpedoed an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris by The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. Bezos then attended Trump’s inauguration as an honored guest, alongside Musk. Both own aerospace and technology companies that have government contracts worth billions of dollars.

Evans’ congressional office acknowledged a request for comment Thursday from OpenSecrets but did not return several follow-up phone calls and emails or otherwise respond.

“The law that requires members of Congress to disclose financial information is extremely important because it is the only method the public has to determine whether they have a conflict of interest,” said Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust. “For instance, if a member makes stock transactions but does not disclose them or does so late, it makes it difficult or impossible to determine whether they used nonpublic information when making their financial decisions or if their personal investments influenced official action. 

Evans, who won re-election last year in an uncontested general election, has criticized Musk of late.

“Elon Musk and Donald Trump have been ignoring funding laws already passed by Congress,” Evans said in a statement last month.

“The Musk-Trump administration owes it to the American people to reverse the damage they’ve done to people’s lives, services, and earned benefits,” Evans posted this week on the social media platform Bluesky.

Evans has also touted his work to secure federal funding for electric vehicle chargers throughout his Philadelphia congressional district — chargers that ostensibly make electric cars such as Tesla more attractive to car buyers.

By Indy Scholtens

The Senate confirmed former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 29. Zeldin, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, picked up a handful of Democratic supporters as the Senate approved his nomination on a 56-42 vote. 

Since taking office, Zeldin has implemented elements of Trump’s policy agenda by freezing billions of dollars in funding, closing the EPA museum, announcing the rollback of dozens of regulations, and saying he might fire 65 percent of EPA employees.  

Zeldin, 45, started his career as a lawyer. In 2004, he became the youngest lawyer in the state of New York. After serving in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2007, including a deployment to Iraq, Zeldin worked as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He later started his own law firm, where he worked full time until he was elected to the New York Senate in 2010. Zeldin was elected to represent the state’s 1st district in the House of Representatives in 2015, a position he held until 2023. 

Zeldin was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment.   

MTG Bought Treasuries Ahead of Market Crash (Sludge)

Pittsburgh's Democratic mayoral candidates see sudden infusion of so-called dark money (CBS News)

Lobbying hits record in New York state politics (WETM)

Big Money in American Politics Started Here (Foreign Policy)

Griffin Calls Tariffs ‘Huge’ Mistake Hurting Middle Class (Bloomberg)

But Griffin, who the Bloomberg Bilionaires Index estimates has a $41.8 billion fortune, is also a Republican mega-donor. He’s given at least $100 million to pro-Republican political action committees in the last presidential cycle, data from OpenSecrets show, although none of that money went to support Trump’s campaign.

Ossoff raises record-breaking $11M for Senate reelect (Politico)

The early fundraising haul is a show of force that could serve to keep some potential GOP challengers on the sideline, though the $11 million is certain to be only a drop in the bucket of the expected overall spending. Georgia’s 2022 Senate race won by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock saw more than $515 million spent by campaigns and outside groups, according to OpenSecrets. 

Capitol Hill Wants $15 Billion for Weapons Pentagon Didn’t Seek: Report (Military.com)

After leaving as state attorney general in 2019, Bondi joined Ballard Partners, a Tallahassee, Florida-based lobbying firm that is described as "specializing in all aspects of governmental and public affairs." Ballard had 174 clients and generated $19.3 million in revenue in 2024, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks money in U.S. politics.

Opinion: Governor should sign lobbying transparency bill (Albuquerque Journal)

Opponents of the measure say the bill would create bureaucratic red tape and steer experts away from participation. But the disclosure process could be streamlined with a simple online portal, and there’s plenty of time to work out any glitches before the new rules begin in 2027. And the critics’ argument also misses a crucial point: The status quo is a problem. OpenSecrets.org, in a 2022 report, compared lobbying disclosure trends across different states and ranked New Mexico near bottom. 

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