Cassidy Accuses Letlow of Pelosi-Style Stock Trades Before Louisiana Primary

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., accused his primary opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, of taking a "Nancy Pelosi approach" to stock trades. He claimed she made investments within days of subcommittee hearings involving those companies.

Cassidy, the incumbent senator defending his seat, joined the "Fox News Rundown" podcast ahead of Saturday's Republican primary election.

"She's done well for herself financially," Cassidy told Fox News Radio's Jessica Rosenthal. "Kind of the Nancy Pelosi approach to stock markets, I'll just point out, which is public record."

Cassidy said public records show Letlow bought or sold shares within days of subcommittee hearings related to those companies. Letlow denied similar allegations in April after attack ads raised the issue.

"I most certainly did not break federal law," Letlow told Fox 8 at the time. "I've had a portfolio that has been managed by a third party. And it was very important to me, whenever I was elected to Congress, to make sure that I had absolutely no direction over it."

Cassidy claimed Letlow's broker has not provided proof the trades were independent. "She claims that her broker did that independently. They asked the broker for a letter to that effect, and the broker would not give the letter," he said.

Letlow's campaign responded in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling the claims a ploy to save Cassidy's campaign.

"This is a last-ditch effort by Bill Cassidy to smear Julia Letlow because he knows he is going to lose tomorrow," Letlow's campaign spokesperson Katherine Thordahl said.

"President Trump endorsed Julia Letlow because he knows she is a strong conservative who will stand with him and fight for the America First agenda in the United States Senate. At the end of the day, Bill Cassidy will do or say anything to distract from his own record, including his vote to impeach President Trump."

Cassidy also called Letlow a "liberal," citing her past remarks supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. The comments came from a 2020 video of Letlow interviewing for president of the University of Louisiana Monroe. In the footage, she called the school's faculty gender diversity record "shameful," praised DEI efforts nationwide and said she wanted to create the school's first DEI division.

"She is saying there should be a completely staffed department of DEI reporting to the president and having input before any decision was made," Cassidy said on the podcast. "Now that's not the way folks in Louisiana believe."

Letlow appeared earlier this week on the "Fox News Rundown" podcast to defend her record. She argued that DEI programs she once oversaw were "hijacked" by the political left and turned into "Marxism."

"DEI six years ago was introduced in higher education as something that could be a tool to encourage students, staff, faculty to work hard and go achieve the American dream," Letlow said.

"I quickly witnessed the left completely hijack any of those efforts and turn it into indoctrination of our students, Marxism, holding people down instead of lifting them up," she added.

Letlow said the DEI issue is more complex than Cassidy's ads suggest. She argued it started as a tool for student success but got distorted into something she opposes.

"Once I witnessed that firsthand because I was in education, I spent the last five years in Congress fighting against it," she added.