Sen. Richard Burr asked for the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a full investigation into the allegations that he used insider information to dump stocks before the market took a dive amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The North Carolina Republican, who chairs 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.
Burr said in a statement he had a conversation with Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford on Friday morning and asked for an investigation.
My statement in response to reports about recent financial disclosures: pic.twitter.com/J4kye5a4ok
— Richard Burr (@SenatorBurr) March 20, 2020
“I relied solely on public news reports to guide my decision regarding the sale of stocks on February 13,” he said. “Specifically, I closely followed CNBC’s daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time. 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.”
A spokesperson for the senator downplayed the situation and disputed any wrongdoing on the part of the senator in a statement given to the Washington Examiner on Friday.
“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 representative for Burr said.
Among those calling for further investigation and Burr to resign if his explanations don’t check out are Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Other senators were also found to have sold stock before the coronavirus outbreak hit the markets, including GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma also sold major holdings around the time Burr did.
