Fact Check: Did Sen Susan Collins say insider trading should be legal?

WASHINGTON, DC: As the race for Maine's US Senate seat intensified ahead of the November midterm elections, a Democratic campaign ad accused Sen Susan Collins of believing insider trading should be legal and allowing lawmakers to profit from the stock market. The ad quickly drew attention online, raising questions about Collins' record on congressional ethics and financial trading.

Claim: A Democratic campaign ad claims Susan Collins believes insider trading should be legal

Forward argues that the current ethics rules are not strong enough to prevent members of Congress from financially benefiting from information they obtain through their official positions.

The group believes lawmakers should be completely prohibited from buying and selling individual stocks while in office, saying that such a ban is the only effective way to eliminate conflicts of interest and restore public trust.

Based on that view, the group criticizes Susan Collins for opposing a blanket ban on congressional stock trading. In its campaign ad, Majority Forward alleges that Collins is helping preserve a system that allows senators to profit from the stock market. The ad goes further by claiming that Collins "doesn't think" insider trading should be illegal. 

In the ad, a narrator claims Collins' long career in the Senate has changed her and says, "Getting rich from insider trading should be illegal, but Susan Collins doesn't think so." The ad also alleges that Collins wants to let senators profit from stock trading and urges viewers to tell her to stop congressional stock trading.

The Democratic advocacy group Majority Forward had spent more than $628,000 airing the ad across Maine and other parts of New England, according to AdImpact. The group is affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, which is backing efforts to defeat Susan Collins as she seeks a sixth term.

Fact Check: The claim is false

However, the ad's claim that Collins believes insider trading should be legal is false. Her campaign rejected the allegation, with spokesperson Blake Kernen saying Majority Forward was misleading voters.

Kernen said insider trading is illegal and should remain illegal, adding that Collins helped write the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law.

The law made it clear that members of Congress and their staff are subject to the same insider-trading laws as everyone else.

Congress passed the STOCK Act in 2012 with strong bipartisan support after years of public concern that lawmakers could profit from nonpublic government information.

The legislation reaffirmed that members of Congress cannot use confidential information gained through their official duties to benefit financially and required them to disclose certain stock trades more quickly.

At the time, Collins said the law made it "crystal clear" that members of Congress are prohibited from trading on insider information.