WASHINGTON _ Facing calls for his resignation over the selling of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks weeks before the market crashed, the Senate Intelligence Committee chair has asked congressional investigators to probe whether his actions amounted to insider trading.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who as the Intelligence Committee chair was sitting in on regular confidential briefings about the coronavirus, sold his stocks even as he publicly downplayed the risk of the outbreak to voters. Burr sold as much as $1.72 million, records show, with large amounts in companies that later would be slammed in the market sell-off.
The senator's stock sales, revealed in public disclosures that lawmakers are required to file, were first reported by ProPublica.
"I relied solely on public news reports to guide my decision on the sale of stocks February 13," Burr said in a statement Friday morning regarding the stock sale that the records show was in the range of $628,000 to $1.72 million. "Specifically, I closely followed CNBC's daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time. Understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight however, I spoke this morning with the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and asked him to open a complete review of the matter with full transparency."
Similar stock sales were also disclosed in the public records by Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, whose husband is the chair of the New York Stock Exchange. Loeffler, who also sold shares in companies that took a big hit, has denied any wrongdoing.
"I want to set the record straight: This is a ridiculous & baseless attack," she wrote in a tweet after a Daily Beast report revealed her investment moves. "I don't make investment decisions for my portfolio. Investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband's knowledge or involvement."
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican, also reported large stock sales, according to a New York Times report. Both the senators also said their portfolios are managed in blind accounts, and investment decisions are made without their involvement.
The stock moves by Burr and Loeffler have drawn particular scrutiny because they are so closely aligned with the market changes that accompanied the spread of the outbreak _ and because they were making the moves while assuring the public the economy and markets are strong.
"Any halfway decent attorney general would by now have directed the DOJ to open criminal insider trading investigations into Sen. Burr and the other senators who exploited their positions to profit by endangering the public," Harvard legal scholar Laurence Tribe posted on Twitter.
Democrats demanded action, with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez calling for Burr's resignation. Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, a favorite of the right, also pilloried Burr.
"Maybe there's an honest explanation for what he did; if there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately," Carlson said Thursday on Fox. "Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading."
