It is not just "related" to insider trading, it is the very definition of it. Insider trading is when you are in a privileged position to hear material non-public information and then act on that information before it is made public. That was what
the STOCK Act made illegal for members of Congress and other branches of the Government:
Many people may be surprised to learn that until recently, trading based on material nonpublic information—otherwise known as insider trading—was both legal and commonplace among members of Congress.
The STOCK Act was introduced into Congress in Jan. 2012 and was passed in April 2012 with substantial bipartisan support. The purpose of the STOCK Act was to ensure that the general prohibition against insider trading applies to members of Congress and other federal employees, including the president, vice president, and certain other members of the executive branch.
...
Instances of insider trading by members of Congress are not difficult to find. For example, in 2008, then-Congressman Spencer Bachus shorted the U.S. stock market one day after attending a confidential meeting with Henry ("Hank") Paulson and Ben Bernanke, who at that time were the secretary of the Treasury and chairman of the Federal Reserve, respectively. At this meeting, which took place on Sept. 18, Bachus and other members of Congress were given material nonpublic information about the extent of the risks that were facing the financial system at that time.
John Boehner and Dick Durbin, both Senators at the time, also attended that closed-door meeting. Both of them placed orders selling shares in mutual funds the following day.
Very clearly the same thing.
The information they were presenting was what anyone paying attention to what the experts were saying would expect--hardly secret at all.
False. The information they were receiving was directly contradicted--publicly--by what the President of the United States was saying and what they, themselves, were saying publicly, but not privately. In short, they were not only acting on material non-public information before the public heard the information they received, they were encouraging their own select friends and colleagues to act as well.
They couldn't be more guilty of not just insider trading, but suborning insider trading among a close, private few.