"Insider trading involves trading in a public company's stock by someone who has non-public, material information about that stock for any reason. Insider trading can be either illegal or legal depending on when the insider makes the trade. It is illegal when the material information is still non-public, and this sort of insider trading comes with harsh consequences."
That is not correct. It has to be non-public *company* information - not just ANY non-public information.
If you discover a comet in outer space that is going to crash into McDonalds HQ. Shorting that stock does not make you an insider.
That's why it's called INSIDER trading. Because it's all about the non-public information INSIDE the corporation in question.
I would agree that it's not legally insider trading, because of course the people who wrote the laws on insider trading excluded their privileged knowledge from being considered insider trading in the law.
Also, the notion that Congress found out about COVID-19 before everyone else is ludicrous. People who took the time to read the reports out of China sold WELL BEFORE even congress sold. I know - I was one of them.
The problem is that MSM did NOT cover the outbreak in China. Many accused those who did of racism and posts on social media were squashed from brigades more concerned with "fear-mongering".