Fox News host Tucker Carlson issued a scathing rebuke of Republican Sen. Richard Burr after it was reported he sold a large amount of stock before the coronavirus disrupted the stock market.
The senator from North Carolina, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, offloaded between $628,000 and $1.72 million worth of stock on Feb. 13, days before the markets plummeted, ProPublica reported. There has been no indication that the senator had inside information, but he did have daily coronavirus briefings around the time and has faced rising criticism and calls for an investigation.
Carlson called for Burr to resign and face charges if he is found to have participated in insider trading.
“He had inside information about what could happen to the country which is now happening, but he didn’t warn the public,” he stated. “He didn’t give a prime-time address. He didn’t go on television to sound the alarm. He didn’t even disavow an op-ed he’d written just 10 days before claiming America was ‘better prepared than ever for coronavirus.’ He didn’t do those things. Instead, what did he do? He dumped his shares in hotel stocks so he wouldn’t lose money, and then he stayed silent.”
“Maybe there is an honest explanation for what he did,” Carlson argued. “If there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately. Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading.”
A spokesperson for the senator downplayed the situation and denied there was wrongdoing.
“Sen. Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” the spokesperson for Burr previously told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
Other senators were also found to have sold stock before the coronavirus outbreak hit the markets, including GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, who did so after she received a private Senate briefing on the pandemic. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma also sold major holdings around the time Burr did.
