Burr steps down amid stock-sale probe
WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Burr will resign as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said Thursday, as an FBI investigation into Burr’s stock sales led to the seizure of his cellphone by federal investigators.
A senior Justice Department official confirmed that Burr’s phone was seized as the agency probed stock sales that the GOP senator made before the coronavirus market crash.
The search warrant was served on Burr’s lawyer, and the phone was retrieved at the senator’s home, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The move required approval at the top levels of the department, marking a dramatic escalation of the investigation into Burr’s actions. In order to obtain a warrant, authorities must show that there is probable cause that a possible crime was committed.
Mcconnell, R-KY., said in a statement that he and Burr agreed that it would be in “the best interests” of the Intelligence Committee for Burr, R-N.C., to step down.
Burr’s office declined to comment Thursday.
First elected to Congress in 1994, Burr served five terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2004. He is serving his third term and chaired the Intelligence Committee during its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Justice Department launched an inquiry into the stock sales in March, a source told USA TODAY at the time.
Sens. Burr, Jim Inhofe, R-okla., Kelly Loeffler, R-GA., and Dianne Feinstein, Dcalif., and their spouses or advisers sold stocks about the same time lawmakers received briefings about the severity of the coronavirus, financial disclosure forms showed.
A spokesman for Feinstein’s office said Thursday that the FBI interviewed her last month.
The federal criminal investigation appears to be focused on Burr.
At the time news reporting revealed the stock movements, the senators declined any wrongdoing. Burr called for an Ethics Committee review into his conduct as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on him to resign his seat.
“The law is clear that any American – including a senator – may participate in the stock market based on public information, as Sen. Burr did,” Burr’s attorney, Alice Fisher, said in March. “When this issue arose, Sen. Burr immediately asked the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a complete review, and he will cooperate with that review as well as any other appropriate inquiry. Sen. Burr welcomes a thorough review of the facts in this matter, which will establish that his actions were appropriate.”
Burr and his wife sold up to $1.6 million in February and said they did so based only on public news reports about the coronavirus.
The 2012 Stock Act bars members of Congress from using insider information to make trading decisions. Burr was one of three senators who voted against the law.