House Ethics Committee reproved Rep. Mike Kelly in 2025 for failing to meet his duty of candor in its probe of his wife's Cleveland-Cliffs stock purchase; it found no substantial evidence of insider trading or a conflict-of-interest violation

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In a report adopted unanimously on July 22, 2025 and released July 25, 2025, the House Committee on Ethics found substantial evidence that Rep. Mike Kelly violated clause 1 of the Code of Official Conduct by failing to meet his duty of candor during its investigation, and said the report serves as a reproval. The investigation began with a 2021 Office of Congressional Ethics referral over his wife Victoria Kelly's April 29, 2020 purchase of $23,075 in Cleveland-Cliffs stock, the day after his staff learned of a Commerce Department tariff investigation and five days before it was public; she later sold the shares for a $64,476.06 profit. The Committee did not find substantial evidence that Kelly violated insider-trading or conflict-of-interest standards, found no evidence that he knowingly or intentionally caused his wife to trade on inside information, and said it was unable to determine whether her purchase was improper because she did not fully cooperate (she declined an interview and written questions). It cited inconsistent answers by Kelly, largely nonresponsive document production, and his and his wife's refusal to answer written questions about her second purchase of $50,000-$100,000 of the stock on March 28, 2024, made during the probe and disclosed on a June 14, 2024 report that was late under the STOCK Act. The Committee noted it was his fourth late periodic transaction report, that a $200 late fee remained unpaid, and directed him to pay it within 30 days; it also recommended that the Kellys divest the stock if he takes any further official action relating to the company. In a July 7, 2025 letter included in the report, Kelly said his wife's purchase was 'to show her support for the workers and management' of the Butler plant; after the report's release he said in a statement that the investigation 'has unnecessarily lasted for nearly five years' and that he and his family look forward to putting it behind them, per Roll Call.

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