(CNN) Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia said Wednesday that she and her husband are divesting from individual stocks amid sharp criticism over trades she and other lawmakers made ahead of the market downturn caused by coronavirus.

Loeffler wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday defending the trades, saying they were made by third-party financial advisers without her knowledge and she had become a "top target of baseless attacks"

But she said she and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, who is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, would nevertheless divest from individual stocks so it would no longer be a distraction amid the work against the coronavirus.

"Although Senate ethics rules don't require it, my husband and I are liquidating our holdings in managed accounts and moving into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds," Loeffler wrote.

"I'm not doing this because I have to," she added. "I've done everything the right way and in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, Senate ethics rules and U.S. law. I'm doing it because the issue isn't worth the distraction. My family's investment accounts are being used as weapons for an assault on my character at a time when we should all be focused on making our country safe and strong."