Rand Paul Says He Filled Out Disclosure Paperwork on Wife’s Controversial Stock Buy, But Literally Forgot to Press Send

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has addressed his failure to report his wife Kelley Paul’s investment in Gilead Sciences, claiming that he did fill out the needed paperwork, but forgot to press send.

Paul filed a disclosure on Wednesday, admitting that his wife purchased stock in Gilead Sciences, which makes an antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19, on Feb. 26, 2020.

The purchase was made before the coronavirus, and its impending impact, was truly understood by the public, and before the World Health Organization even classified it as a pandemic.

News of the purchase was quickly scrutinized, as the Stock Act, created to halt congressional insider trading, requires that such buys be reported within 45 days.

“The senator ought to have an explanation for the trade and, more importantly, why it took him almost a year and a half to discover it from his wife,” James D. Cox, a professor of law at Duke University, told The Washington Post. 

Well, Paul has since offered his reasoning, but Cox will most likely be unhappy with the explanation.

“I apologize. I was bad on the reporting,” Paul told reporters while visiting Somerset small business Baxter’s Coffee with his wife.

“I had typed it into the computer. So, about two weeks after Kelley made the stock purchase, I typed it into the computer and I thought I pressed send but I didn’t.”

Watch above, via Lexington CBS affiliate WKYT.