Nancy Pelosi At Center Of New Congressional Scandal - Former Speaker Accused By Rising GOP Star
Washington, D.C. - May 26, 2026
RISING GOP STAR REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA ACCUSES NANCY PELOSI OF INSIDER TRADING AS CONGRESSIONAL STOCK SCANDAL EXPLODES
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a fast-rising Republican voice, has placed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the center of a major congressional ethics firestorm. Luna publicly accused Pelosi of insider trading, citing the Pelosi family’s extraordinary reported stock market gains of roughly 17,000% over nearly four decades.
Those returns are not achievable without access to nonpublic information,
Luna wrote in a pointed post on X, reigniting long-simmering questions about lawmakers and their families trading individual stocks while in office.
Estimates show the Pelosi portfolio grew from under $1 million when Pelosi entered Congress in 1987 to more than $100 million today. That performance dramatically outpaced major benchmarks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising roughly 2,300% over the same span while the Pelosi investments delivered average annual returns around 14.5%.
Despite repeated scrutiny, no formal finding has ever confirmed that Pelosi violated insider trading laws. Pelosi has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
I do not personally trade stocks,
She has voiced support for greater transparency, including the 2012 STOCK Act, which bars members of Congress from using nonpublic information for personal financial gain.
Luna drew a sharp contrast with the federal prosecution of U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Gannon Van Dyke. Van Dyke faces serious charges—including commodities fraud, wire fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions—after earning roughly $409,000 on prediction market bets linked to a classified operation. If convicted, he could spend decades in prison.
The comparison has intensified bipartisan pressure on Capitol Hill to ban members of Congress and their immediate families from trading individual stocks altogether. Critics from both parties argue that current penalties under the STOCK Act are minimal and rarely enforced, with watchdog groups frequently noting late or incomplete disclosures that carry little or no financial consequence.
This latest accusation arrives as Republican lawmakers push aggressively for stricter rules to eliminate even the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, has faced past scrutiny for well-timed trades in major technology companies that preceded key legislative or regulatory decisions. Pelosi’s office maintains she plays no role in her husband’s investment decisions and that no charges have ever been filed against her.
As the House Republican majority continues to deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda, the renewed debate over congressional stock trading underscores a growing public demand for accountability. Whether new legislation banning such trades gains traction will test whether Washington is finally ready to close the loopholes that have long fueled distrust in elected officials.
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
