Senator’s stock trades subject of FBI warrant
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator with access to some of the nation’s top secrets became further entangled in a deepening FBI investigation as agents examining a well-timed sale of stocks during the coronavirus outbreak showed up at his home with a warrant to search his cellphone.
Hours later, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina stepped aside Thursday as chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, calling it the “best thing to do.” Burr has denied wrongdoing.
“This is a distraction to the hard work of the committee and the members, and I think that the security of the country is too important to have a distraction,” Burr said. He said he would serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2023. He is not running for reelection.
The search warrant marked a dramatic escalation in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Burr exploited advance information when he unloaded as much as $1.7 million in stocks in the days before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet. Such warrants require investigators to establish to a judge that probable cause exists to believe a crime has occurred.
The warrant was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter, including a senior department official.
On Thursday, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she was asked “some basic questions” by law enforcement about sales her husband made and had voluntarily answered questions.
A representative for Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who records show sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in late January and February, said no search warrant had been served on her and that Loeffler “has followed both the letter and spirit of the law and will continue to do so.”