Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., did not attend a lunch for GOP senators at the White House on Wednesday because he is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be chair of the committee and to put myself in a situation where a picture or something might be construed the wrong way,” Burr told a reporter for Politico.
.@SenatorBurr, leading Russia probe, tells me why he did not attend today’s meeting at White House and why he is avoiding future meetings pic.twitter.com/4tmkJXGa4a
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) July 19, 2017
Instead of joining most of his Republican colleagues at a lunch with President Trump and Vice President Pence to discuss the failed Senate healthcare bill, Burr ordered lunch from a Senate carry-out, according to an AP reporter.
Sen Burr is ordering lunch in the Senate carry out.
Not going to WH while investigation under way he says.— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) July 19, 2017
“I’ll make a habit while this investigation is going on that I don’t go down [to the White House],” Burr told The Hill.
In April, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, temporarily recused himself from the committee’s Russia investigation after a visit to the White House to view documents from administration officials created controversy.
