Tom Malinowski’s recent stock trading troubles made it to his virtual town hall this afternoon and the congressman was quick to defend himself.

A caller wondered how Malinowski could help small businesses when he’s facing an ethics investigation and worrying about his own interests.

The CD-7 congressman said the caller was mistaken, because there is no ethics committee investigation underway.

It was reported earlier this year that the Democratic congressman failed to timely report stock trades he made during the pandemic.

Not surprisingly, this issue was front and center when Republican Thomas H. Kean Jr. announced his 2022 candidacy last week accompanied by GOP leader Kevin McCarthy. Malinowski beat Kean by about 5,000 votes last fall.

Malinowski has since put his holdings in a blind trust.

And he said today that he wants to strengthen ethics rules to require all members of Congress to put holdings in a blind trust upon election. He said many members do not do that.

He said he didn’t have a blind trust when he joined Congress in January, 2019.

“I do now,” he said.

He also tried to turn things around a bit by making a reference to Kean, who hails from one of the state’s most prominent families.

Without mentioning him by name, Malinowski said that when the 2022 House race comes around, one of the candidates will be “heavily invested in the stock market” and it’s “not going to be me.”

As for small businesses, the congressman said the House has supported pandemic-related aid for many businesses, including restaurants, without Republican support. Nonetheless, he said some Republicans have taken credit for aid coming into their districts.

“We call that, ‘Vote no and take the dough,'” Malinowski said.