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The assumption is that the stock picks come from insider knowledge gleaned from congressional duties like sitting on committees. Another possibility is that they are a form of off-the-books campaign donation or bribe, and the knowledge comes straight from an insider who wants to influence congressional decision making.

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This makes far more sense. "No, no, it isn't a bribe. It's a sure thing!"

Its almost as if private encrypted chat networks are a thing. Oh, look at that, Mets owner, Steve Cohen paid record fine for insider trading using just that.

I'm not here to shill for Steve Cohen, but I believe that many long/short (fundamental) hedge funds use an "onion strategy" to share insider information from analyst to trader. It's probably defamation to write this, but I do think Steve Cohen has seen plenty of insider information in his trading career provided by analysts that work his fund. That said, he was never found guilty of insider trading. Look it up. He paid a huge fine, but did not admit fault and was not found guilty. Now, there are numerous people around him who were found guilty, but not Teflon Steve!

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