Jake Sullivan’s wife rushes to resolve ‘bizarre’ financial disclosure amid heated primary campaign

Maggie Goodlander corrected her financial disclosure on Tuesday, but questions remain

Maggie Goodlander, wife of White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, said she didn’t have the information necessary to determine the value of his assets when she filed incomplete financial disclosure forms ahead of the heated New Hampshire congressional primary. An investigation by the Washington Free Beacon finds that excuse weak: Goodlander appears to have copied information Sullivan had already disclosed in his own disclosure documents, but removed the asset values ​​included by her husband.

Goodlander, a former Justice Department official and senior adviser to President Joe Biden, is running to replace retiring Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.). In her initial financial disclosure filed in August, Goodlander reported that she could not determine the value of most of her assets, including stocks, Treasury securities and other easily identifiable holdings.

After facing criticism (general counsel for the nonpartisan watchdog group Campaign Legal Center told Congress the filing was “rather odd”), Goodlander explained that the omission was a common mistake. His campaign said in a statement that “the campaign completed its initial financial disclosure using all information available at the time. Like many first-time candidates, the campaign plans to file an amendment once it receives the additional information it has requested.”

In his latest disclosure on Tuesday, Goodlander said his net worth could exceed $30 million, due to his large stock holdings and ownership of rental property in New Hampshire and a retail shopping center in Florida.But Goodlander’s revised financial disclosure seems unlikely to resolve questions raised about his original filing.

First, Goodlander arguably had more “information” about his assets than he disclosed. The order, descriptions, and numbering of what Goodlander reported in his initial disclosure matched almost perfectly with what Sullivan disclosed, with one major exception: Sullivan disclosed values ​​for his assets in his filings, but Goodlander said he could not determine the value of those same assets.

The oddities of Goodlander’s initial financial disclosures are already causing trouble for her as she tries to defeat Custer’s handpicked successor, Colin Van Ostern.

Van Ostern’s ally, New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Paige Beauchemin, filed ethics charges Tuesday calling for the Justice Department to investigate Goodlander for “actively trying to mislead the public about her financial situation.” Paul Kamenar, an attorney with the watchdog National Legal and Policy Center, said Goodlander’s failure to disclose the value of her assets may have been intentional, given her legal background and government experience. In 2021, Goodlander served as a top adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who oversaw the special counsel’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.

“As someone who served as a senior Justice Department official and later deployed to the White House, Maggie Goodlander’s financial disclosure reports were sloppy at best and inaccurate at worst,” Kamenar told the Free Beacon, adding that the House Ethics Committee should review both her original report and her revised report for possible reporting violations.

It’s unclear why Goodlander omitted the numbers her husband reported in his financial disclosures from her own numbers and then falsely told the public they were “unconfirmed.” Her campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Ms. Goodlander is embroiled in a bitter primary battle with Mr. Van Ostern, who has accused her of carpetbagging. Although Ms. Goodlander and Mr. Sullivan own a $1.2 million home in New Hampshire, it is not the district she is seeking to represent, and she has lived outside the state for most of her adult life.

Van Ostern said Goodlander’s only connection to New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District is the house he began renting just before the election. Goodlander inherited most of the property from his grandfather, Sam Tamposi, a real estate developer who became part-owner of the Boston Red Sox in 1977 and died in 1995.

While Goodlander’s original disclosure closely matched her husband’s, except for the asset values, there was one notable difference between the two filings: In her most recent financial disclosure, Sullivan reported that she had a mortgage with First Republic Bank worth $1 million, representing “one-third of the mortgage on the family home.” But the amended disclosure that Goodlander filed Tuesday makes no mention of that debt.

Goodlander and Van Ostern will face off on Tuesday, with Goodlander holding a 6-point lead according to the latest polls. The winner of the primary is expected to easily win the general election in November.