Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz argued Sen. Richard Burr, a fellow Republican, should face repercussions for selling stocks following a classified briefing on the coronavirus threat prior to the pandemic’s significant growth globally.
Gaetz brought up former Rep. Katie Hill’s resignation amid controversy and claimed it was “not fair” that she was pressured into leaving Congress while Burr remains as Senate Intelligence Committee chairman after “reassuring” the public about the COVID-19 outbreak while his financial maneuvering indicated he might have believed the situation was far more dire than he was letting on.
Hill “gets run out of Congress for screwing a campaign staffer absent any complaint. [Sen. Burr] stays as Intelligence Chairman after screwing all Americans by falsely reassuring us w opeds on #COVID while he dumped his stock portfolio early,” Gaetz tweeted on Monday. “This is not fair.”
[Read more: Majority in North Carolina say Richard Burr should resign for selling stocks ahead of pandemic: Poll]
.@KatieHill4CA gets run out of Congress for screwing a campaign staffer absent any complaint.@SenatorBurr stays as Intelligence Chairman after screwing all Americans by falsely reassuring us w opeds on #COVID while he dumped his stock portfolio early.
This is not fair.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 23, 2020
Hill, a Democrat, resigned from Congress last fall after stories emerged of affairs with both a male and a female aide, and explicit photos of her were shared publicly. She admitted to having a relationship with a female campaign staffer but denied having a relationship with her male staffer. She resigned after an ethics investigation began, and she accused her ex-husband of “driving a smear campaign” against her.
A ProPublica report last week revealed Burr offloaded up to $1.7 million in stocks before the markets began to plummet. Faced with allegations of insider trading and calls to resign, Burr claimed he did nothing wrong.
“I closely followed CNBC’s daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time,” Burr said, adding that he “relied solely on public news reports.”
Burr has called for a bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee investigation into his actions.
Other lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sens. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, also came under scrutiny for selling major holdings right before the stock market drop.
Editor’s Note: This story has been amended to reflect new information.
