Republican busted trading AI stocks while pushing for data centers in his own district

A Republican congressman notorious for suspiciously timed stock trades was just caught in yet another one — this time involving the artificial intelligence boom.

According to Politico, Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) "bought between $1,001 and $15,000 of stock in Credo Technology, a company that provides electric cables and chips for data centers, according to a House report he filed in July. Bresnahan spokesperson Hannah Pope said the purchase totaled $1,454. Since then, the share price of Credo stock has risen about 109 percent — joining the set of AI companies ballooning in value."

Around the same time, Bresnahan was publicly urging companies to construct new AI data centers in his district, which encompasses the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre areas.

“I am pleased to hear that companies are looking to Northeastern Pennsylvania for their data centers, which can serve as catalysts for economic growth and technological innovation for our region,” Bresnahan said to the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader just a couple of months before.

AI data centers have created new jobs in towns where they were constructed. However, they have become controversial because they have driven up energy prices and caused a shortage of RAM chips, which is making computers and consumer electronics more expensive. They are also a target for activists worried that the proliferation of AI itself is having harmful impacts on society.

Bresnahan, who unseated a longtime Democratic incumbent in 2024, has become infamous as one of the most prolific and frequent stock traders in Congress, making hundreds of trades last year. Some of his other trades have similarly raised alarm bells; for instance, he dumped up to $130,000 in stock with Medicaid providers just before voting for President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive package of tax cuts that also cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid.

Bresnahan has denied any insinuation that he is engaged in insider trading, telling NBC News he “never instructed my financial advisors on what to buy, sell, or hold,” and “I am beholden to no lobbyist or special interest.”

Members of Congress are uniquely positioned to profit from legislation that affects markets. A law already exists that requires these trades to be publicly disclosed so as to discourage insider trading, but members frequently violate those rules. For years now, lawmakers in both parties have proposed a total ban on trading individual stocks while in office.

House Republicans are set to debate a bill on Wednesday that would ban members from buying stocks, but would still allow them to hold and sell stocks they already own. This bill faces criticism from House Democrats, who argue only a full ban will solve the problem, and from some Senate Republicans, who don't want any new restrictions on their stock trades at all.