Harshbarger reports KKR and Coatue fund purchases; Khanna, McClain and eight others file September trades

By Rosalind Kerrow

WASHINGTON — Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., reported buying shares of a KKR private-equity vehicle and the Coatue Innovation Fund in late August, according to three paper reports received by the House Clerk on Oct. 1. Most of the transactions on the reports are municipal bonds and Treasury notes.

Her reports are among the periodic transaction reports filed by 10 House members from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16 that The Washington Inquisitor had not previously covered. The Clerk’s index shows no new House filings after Oct. 22. The 10 members are eight Republicans and two Democrats. All of the trades below were filed within the STOCK Act’s deadlines, based on the dates printed on the forms. Three other members’ reports from the same period, which were filed late, are covered in a separate story.

Harshbarger: private funds and bonds

Two of Harshbarger’s reports each list a purchase of KKR Private Equity Conglomerate LLC on Aug. 26, valued at $500,001 to $1,000,000 (first report, second report). Each also lists a Coatue Innovation Fund purchase that day, but at different values: $250,001 to $500,000 on one report and $100,001 to $250,000 on the other. The reports do not say whether these are separate purchases, made in different accounts, or a single trade reported twice. The Inquisitor has asked her office.

The rest of the activity on the three reports, including the third, is fixed income. It includes Treasury notes paying 4% and due in May 2028, and municipal bonds from issuers in Texas, New York, Georgia, Illinois, Washington state, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Nebraska, mostly at $15,001 to $50,000 each. The trades are dated Aug. 19 through Sept. 11, and all list a Sept. 14 notification date. Harshbarger, a pharmacist, sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The same KKR vehicle appears on a report from Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, which lists a spouse purchase of $500,001 to $1,000,000 on Aug. 21.

Khanna: trades in family trusts

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., widely seen as a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has been one of the loudest voices in Congress for banning members from trading stocks. He filed a 31-page paper report, received Oct. 7, that lists transactions in trusts, including the Monte and Usha Ahuja 2010 Irrevocable Trust for the benefit of the Ahujas’ grandchildren. The report marks those trades as dependent-child transactions. The pages the Inquisitor reviewed list trades of $1,001 to $15,000 each, among them hybrid securities issued by American Express, Wells Fargo, Verizon and First Citizens BancShares, a BofA Finance note linked to the S&P 500, Amazon stock and a Microsoft options position. The notification dates on those pages are no later than Oct. 1.

Khanna has said the trading is not his. “I do not own or trade stocks and have led the fight to ban stock trading,” he wrote in a post. “My household’s only investments are in a trust that my in-laws set up before marriage, managed independently by a third party trustee in full compliance with the Office of Government ethics (OGE) and House Rules.”

The other filers

• Tony Wied, R-Wis.: Joint partial sales on Sept. 17 of ServiceNow ($50,001 to $100,000) and of The Trade Desk, Upstart and Chipotle ($15,001 to $50,000 each), in a report received Oct. 2 (report). Wied sits on Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Small Business.
• Lisa McClain, R-Mich.: Spouse purchases in September, made in a retirement account. They include CACI International, Olin and Transocean ($15,001 to $50,000 each) and Caterpillar, Microsoft, Novagold and two ImmunityBio buys ($1,001 to $15,000 each). The report also lists a partial sale of Seagate ($15,001 to $50,000) (report). McClain, the House Republican Conference chair, sits on Financial Services and Education and Workforce.
• Mike Kelly, R-Pa.: Spouse purchases of an Alabama gas-district revenue bond ($15,001 to $50,000) and a California community-choice energy financing bond ($50,001 to $100,000) (report). Kelly sits on Ways and Means.
• Rick Allen, R-Ga.: Spouse sales of AutoZone ($15,001 to $50,000) and Costco ($1,001 to $15,000) (report). Allen sits on Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce.
• Rich McCormick, R-Ga.: A purchase of Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares on Sept. 18 ($1,001 to $15,000) (report).
• Dan Meuser, R-Pa.: A spouse partial sale of Nvidia on Aug. 31 ($1,001 to $15,000), reported on Oct. 14, 44 days later and one day inside the limit (report). Meuser sits on Financial Services and Small Business.
• Rick Larsen, D-Wash.: On Oct. 8, purchases of Analog Devices and Williams-Sonoma and sales of FedEx and Home Depot, each $1,001 to $15,000 (report). Larsen is the top Democrat on Transportation and Infrastructure, the committee with jurisdiction over aviation and freight.
• David Taylor, R-Ohio: Purchases of AT&T, Fifth Third Bancorp and RPM International on Oct. 9 and a sale of Procter & Gamble on Oct. 12, each $1,001 to $15,000 (report). Taylor sits on Agriculture and Transportation and Infrastructure.

Committee assignments are from the Clerk’s member data as of Oct. 1. None of these filings, and no ethics finding reviewed by the Inquisitor, shows any violation. Current law allows members and their families to hold and trade individual securities as long as the trades are disclosed. Proposals to ban the practice remain stalled in the Senate.

Comment

The Inquisitor sought comment on the reports from the Revolving Door Project, the Brennan Center for Justice, the American Economic Liberties Project, the Cato Institute and the R Street Institute. None of the 10 members’ offices publishes a press email address, and the Inquisitor is contacting them through their Washington office lines. Responses will be added.

Values are the ranges members report; exact amounts are not disclosed. Paper filings were read from the scanned images on the Clerk’s site.