Burr seeks ethics review of criticized stock sales

WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., sought an ethics review Friday on his recent sale of upward of $1.7 million in stocks as he and other lawmakers faced a bipartisan uproar over whether they had used information gleaned from private congressional briefings to guide transactions before the market plummeted due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, who had publicly expressed confidence in the country’s preparedness for the pandemic, sold a significant share of his stocks last month, according to public disclosures. Mr. Burr said he relied solely on public news reports for the sales but asked the Senate Ethics Committee for a review.

“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,” Mr. Burr said in a statement.

The sales included stocks in some of the industries that were later hardest hit during the pandemic, including those in hotels and restaurants, shipping, drug manufacturing and health care, records show. In his statement, Mr. Burr said he had relied specifically on “CNBC’s daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus.”

Until about a week ago, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders had projected optimism in the country’s ability to manage the global outbreak of the coronavirus.

Mr. Burr’s actions prompted widespread criticism, including from some conservative commentators, as well as calls for his resignation from Democrats in his home state, among others. Even some of his GOP colleagues said scrutiny of his stock sales was appropriate.

Sen. Thom Tillis, Mr. Burr’s Republican colleague from the Tar Heel State, tweeted Friday that “given the circumstances, Senator Burr owes North Carolinians an explanation” and that an ethics committee review could provide a “professional and bipartisan inquiry into this matter.”

In mid-February, Mr. Burr sold 33 stocks held by him and his spouse, estimated at between $628,033 and $1.72 million, Senate financial disclosures show. It was the largest number of stocks he had sold in one day since at least 2016, records show.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a federal watchdog group, announced Friday that it was filing complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee against both Mr. Burr and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, RGa., another lawmaker whose recent stocks sales prompted media scrutiny.