(Headline USA) Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler hid meetings with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and leftist billionaire George Soros from his public calendar despite keeping details of the get-togethers in private copy.
Government officials often have a public calendar, which is available on the agency’s website, that help the public keep up to date with various events and meetings taking place. Gensler reportedly removed references to several meetings with Clinton, Soros, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., White House official Minyon Moore, and more, only adding some of these meetings to his public calendar months after the fact, according to Fox News.
One such meeting that was scrubbed from his public calendar but included in his private calendar was a meeting he had with Clinton on Aug. 7, 2021.
He also scrubbed a meeting he had with Soros on Aug. 20, 2021, which was listed in his private calendar under the title, “re: WSJ op-ed.” Just two weeks later, on Sept. 6, 2021, Soros published an op-ed with the Wall Street Journal in which he blasted asset manager BlackRock for launching investment products for Chinese customers. He also argued in the op-ed that Congress should give the SEC more regulatory authority.
Gensler’s removal of public records was discovered thanks to internal records obtained by watchdog organization Energy Policy Advocates after the group filed a Freedom of Information Act request against the SEC.
“This gives further credence to the widespread concern that Gensler is deeply politicizing a supposedly independent commission,” Chris Horner, a lawyer for Energy Policy Advocates, said. “He may have been Hillary Clinton’s ‘Progressive Beacon’ not long ago, but Gary Gensler is now the SEC chairman, and his calendar indicates he knew the purpose of the meeting. It seems important to know whose idea this was, why, what was said arranging it and through what channel.”
Spokespeople for the SEC defended the hidden meetings, claiming records are only updated “from time to time.”
Gensler is a former Obama administration official who worked on Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as chief financial officer. He was nominated to head the SEC by President Joe Biden in 2021.
