Corrupt David Perdue: Downplaying COVID-19 After Senate Received Private Briefing on Coronavirus

ATLANTA — Today, the Democratic Party of Georgia highlights Senator David Perdue’s prioritization of his self-dealing stock trades and his reckless response to the COVID-19 crisis as millions of lives were at risk. As the Senate received a private briefing on the deadly effects of the novel coronavirus in January, millions of families were in danger of losing their jobs, health care or small businesses –– yet rather than devoting his full attention to protecting working Georgians, Senator David Perdue chose to conduct “heavy [stock] trading” just as the coronavirus outbreak was beginning to spread in the US.

Perdue invested in “a chemical company that supplies personal protective equipment” along with key companies like Pfizer and Netflix, while selling off shares in casino giant Caesars. And while Perdue was taking steps to protect his stock portfolio, he was downplaying the pandemic, claiming “very, very few people have been exposed to it” and that the virus was “not […] a crisis yet at all.”

Perdue stood by President Trump as the outbreak first began, saying the risk of the virus remained low, telling Georgians the economic impact would be little, and even comparing COVID-19 to a bad flu season. And when workers and small businesses needed economic relief, Perdue spent his time in Washington resisting stimulus checks for workers and leading the fight to cut unemployment insurance – all while looking out for his corporate donors and making a series of shady stock trades to profit from the pandemic.

“While Senator Perdue had access to private information about the deadly coronavirus crisis, he chose to downplay the threat and line his pockets instead – a shameful scheme and blatantly corrupt,” said Braxton Brewington, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Georgians cannot trust Perdue to protect their lives or livelihoods because he’s only out for himself.”

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