questionable stock purchase by the health secretary nominee, tom price, getting a lot of attention from lawmakers as you reported price bought some stock in a medical device maker only days later he introduced the measure that would have benefitted the companies. just spoke to the senate democratic leader chuck schumer. what was his reaction? well, he is calling for an ethics investigation, wolf, and he believes that price may have broken the law. if he knew about it. he is questioning price s defense that a broker purchased this without his knowledge. some sharp words from the democratic leader. take a listen. this is very, very troubling. this is not some broad legislation, cut all medicare and affect some large company like johnson & johnson. this is a very narrow specific company that dealt with implants, hip and knee, and the legislation specifically affects implants. he puts it in. a week after he buys the stock,
implementing and overseeing policy. another interesting tidbit that i should mention too, wolf, is that price has not been a part of the ongoing debate among trump transition officials to write this obama repeal and replace plan that trump has been talking about. remember, trump said over the weekend that he is actually close to finishing this bill and that he wants to release it as soon as price has been confirmed. now we re learning from a transition official that price has not been a part of those meetings and discussions. all told, wolf, the confirmation hearing tomorrow could be very contentious. he obviously could face many questions. especially from democratic senators about his past financial investments. coming up this hour on cnn, we re going to hear directly from two lawmakers and the
recognizing that the stock that he purchased could be a liability if he were to become health and human services secretary, promising to divest from that company because of possible conflict of interest concerns. one of the cornerstone campaign promises has been on health care. he has vowed to repeal and replace obama care as soon as possible. he could be the point person, the man we ve been talking about, the georgia congressman dr. tom price. the nominee for secretary of health and human services. joining us now are national politics reporter m. j. lee, who has been a lot of reporting on this. price s confirm s hearing, as we noted, set for tomorrow. how has the trump team actually prepared him for these tough questions? he is going to be asked on health care plans. well, wolf, the reason this is such a highly anticipated
hearing tomorrow is because of the ongoing discussions to repeal and replace obama care as you and manu just discussed. now, keep in mind tom price, the georgia congressman, he has been one of washington s most vocal and critical members when it comes to obama care, and he has in the past released detailed legislation to roll back the health care system. presumably, if he is confirmed as hhs secretary, he could play a very influential role in the party s efforts to repeal and replace obama care. that being said, i am told, wolf, by a transition official that price actually doesn t want the focus of the hearing tomorrow to be about his own obama care legislation. the way it was described for ple is that price doesn t want to signal, but he is asking federal lawmakers to endorse his own bill, and a part of his thinking is that he understands that being a policymaker is very different from moving into a position where he would be
that cries out for an investigation. by the house ethics committee. by the house ethics committee or who knows? he knew about it, it could be a violation of the law. you think he broke the law? if he knew about it. now, they say there is a broker kind of strangs that the broker would pick this stock. i think there s a very good chance that he will not be confirmed. now, in order for him to not be confirmed, republicans would have to vote against tom price s nomination, and we haven t gotten any indication of whether there will be enough defections to block price s nomination, which goes before his first confirmation hearing on wednesday, and price s office is pushing back on these reports saying that this is a smear campaign launched by democrats, but interestingly, wolf, price