US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband's fortune more than doubled between 2018 and 2020 as their joint estimated capital grew from $114 million in 2018 to $315 million in 2020 even amid an economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Fox News host Jesse Watters has looked into the sources of income for the speaker, whose salary remains in the "low six-figures", and her husband, Paul Pelosi – the owner of a real estate and venture capital firm.
Watters claims the Pelosi couple's increased wealth coincided with Nancy Pelosi's election to Congress in 1987, achieved in no small measure with the help of her spouse. From there on, the two worked in concert, the Fox News host alleges.
"The couple has timed the [stock] market perfectly over the years, while Nancy's been a Washington insider. Real estate, stocks, the Pelosis always know what the right investment is".
The Fox News host recalled the events of 2007 and 2008, when the US Congress was reviewing a piece of legislation that could potentially sink swipe fees for payment systems giant – Visa. Around this period, the company launched a lobbying campaign that targeted Pelosi – then leader of the House Democratic Caucus. But at the same time, her husband received a notice from his broker saying that he was invited to have early access to Visa's planned $18 billion IPO.
Paul Pelosi took the offer, Fox claims, buying between $1 million and $5 million worth of Visa stocks. Coincidently, the bill that would have tanked Visa's profits sank in the Democratic-controlled US House sending the firm's share price skyrocketing (supposedly along with the Pelosis' wealth). The house speaker, however, denied banking in on her position as the caucus leader to profit from the Visa IPO.
Jesse Watters claims the couple's luck with investments did not stop in 2008, naming the January 2021 purchase of $1 million worth of Tesla stocks as one example. The purchase was purportedly closed just ahead of President Joe Biden announcing his incentives to support domestic electric car manufacturing.
While the Fox News host specifically pointed out that Nancy Pelosi or her husband have never been indicted for insider trading, he also added that the "lucky" investments by her husband could not but raise some questions about the origins of the family's wealth.