Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has been the subject of two ongoing investigations — one from the Justice Department, the other from the Securities and Exchange Commission — stemming from his controversial sale of stock in HCA, a hospital corporation owned and operated by his family. Given how long ago these probes began, one would like to think Frist has had time to come up with a coherent defense. And yet, it hasn’t happened yet.
On Fox News yesterday, Frist repeated an old-but-discredited defense, claiming ignorance about the HCA stock he owned.
“For the last 10 or 11 years, I have no idea no earthly idea at any point in time how much stock of anything, not just that particular stock [HCA], but all of the stocks that I’ve owned in the past. And that’s good, because I’m able to put it aside and not worry about it.”
This follows a similar tack Frist took in a January 2003 television interview when he said, “So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock.” Referring to his “blind” trust, Frist said, “I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea.”
Unfortunately for Frist, there’s ample evidence to the contrary. In fact, the claims were debunked nearly two months ago on the front page of the Washington Post.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family’s hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.
Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as “totally blind,” regularly informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his holdings, according to the documents.
Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.
Usually when a politicians gets into a mess like this one, his or her aides/lawyers can help craft a half-way convincing, surface-level defense that at least has the ring of truth. But if Frist insists on sticking to discredited talking points as his principal defense, his political problems will only get worse.