Insider trading probe: Senate intel panel head quits

WASHINGTON: The Republican chairman of the powerful US Senate intelligence committee stepped down from his position on Thursday after the FBI seized his cellphone in a probe of alleged insider stock trading tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Richard Burr would be stepping aside temporarily while the FBI investigation is ongoing. “We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow,” McConnell said in a statement.

Burr is under investigation over whether he used his insider access to classified intelligence to sell stocks in February - before the pandemic struck, and while Americans were being told the virus’s threat was low.

The LA Times said federal agents wielding a warrant seized his cellphone on Wednesday at his Washington home.