(Image source: Politico)

BY ZACH TOOMBS

A new 60 Minutes report detailing alleged insider trading throughout Congress is drawing fire from both sides of the political spectrum.

Aired Sunday night, the report alleges congressional leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, used information acquired through their positions of power to buy and sell stocks.

“Congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.”

Research by Peter Schweizer, author of a book called “Throw Them All Out” on this same subject, served as the basis for the report.

“The fact is, if you sit on the health care committee and you know that Medicare, for example is considering not reimbursing for a certain drug, that’s market-moving information. And if you can trade stock off of that information and do so legally, that’s a great profit-making opportunity and that sort of behavior goes on.”

Although 60 Minutes independently confirmed Schweizer’s findings, the researcher’s background as a conservative think tank leader opened 60 Minutes up to a barrage of accusations of partisan bias.

In a statement Sunday night, a spokesman for Pelosi, the top-ranking Democrat in the House, denied that Pelosi’s husband had considered insider information in buying up VISA stock in 2008, saying:

"It is very troubling that 60 Minutes would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career of out attacking Democrats.”

But, despite Schweizer’s history with the GOP, four of the five members of Congress referenced in the 60 Minutes report were Republicans.

Zachary Karabell, president of River Twice Research, coupled with the methods researchers used to file the report, should put to rest concerns of media bias on CBS’s part.

But Politico painted the 60 Minutes report, especially information on Republican congressmen Spencer Bachus, Dennis Hastert and Judd Gregg, in a skeptical light in an article Monday, noting that:

“Schweizer was a speechwriting consultant for former President George W. Bush and helped write a book with conservative commentator Glenn Beck. He is also listed as the editor of website run by conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart ... The allegations regarding Bachus, Hastert and Gregg covered by 60 Minutes are several years old and have received extensive media coverage already.”

Still, the report left pundits heated over the possible impropriety within Congress. On MSNBC, commentators said there should be rules, or a blind trust system barring certain financial transactions, in place to stop this sort of thing among lawmakers.

TIM CARNEY: “I’m for regulating the heck out of our government officials, including our politicians. If we were to mandate that every congressman had to have only a blind trust, I would support that.”

DYLAN RATIGAN: “At some point, there’s no set of rules in the world, Sam, that’s going to stop a bunch of soulless, self-interested scumbags from serving their interests.”

And although FOX News’ The Five agree there should be more regulation on insider trading in Congress, they say those rules could make government positions far less desirable. 

ERIC BOLLING: “Apparently, congresspeople are exempt from the rules that we’re bound by, especially someone on TV like me. If I talk about a stock, I certainly better tell the world that I own that stock.”

BRIAN KILMEADE: “If they change that rule, to make it where you have to put everything into a blind trust, not only will people not want to be in Congress, they’ll have to have help wanted signs.”