The Washington Post reports this morning that federal prosecutors have decided not to file insider-trading charges against Tennessee Republican Bill Frist for his sales of stock in a family-owned chain of hospitals.
The stock probe had dogged Frist, a prominent Nashville heart surgeon who rose through the political establishment with support from President Bush, since news of his directive to sell his remaining HCA shares became public in the fall of 2005. Frist decided against a run for the presidency in 2008 and left Congress last year to "take a sabbatical from public life," he said at the time.
The timing triggered multiple federal investigations and months of complex legal reviews. Ultimately, Frist -- a devotee of the BlackBerry device -- produced a paper trail that suggested he began the process of selling the stock in late April 2005, months before he knew of HCA's troubles. According to his records, he consulted with a staff attorney at that time, when he said he was unaware of HCA's problems collecting payments from uninsured patients.
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Frist also garnered news coverage in February when he spent a month in the Darfur region of Sudan on a medical mission, which was similar to trips the surgeon-turned-senator took to Africa throughout his tenure in Washington.
Given the weaknesses of all the GOP candidates (Rudy now finds himself having to do a Mitt Romney and disclaim being pro-gay), will we see Frist re-emerge as a candidate?
Who can forget Frist's video-view television diagnosis of Terry Schiavo, his parlay into veterinary heart surgery on Kuja the Great Ape at National Zoo (two months later Kuja died)[http://www.washingto...]
Oh yes, and practicing without a medical license.
[http://www.msnbc.msn...]
Frist should stick to day trading.