Burr Stepping Down as Chair of Intelligence Panel Amid Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Richard Burr is temporarily stepping down as chairman of the Intelligence Committee amid a federal investigation into whether he sold stocks as a result of secret briefings on the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Senator Burr contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision to step aside as chairman of the Intelligence Committee during the pendency of the investigation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement. “We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow.”

Burr, a North Carolina Republican, was among senators who sold holdings earlier this year around the time intelligence officials were delivering closed-door briefings about the emerging threat of the coronavirus. Burr has denied any wrongdoing.

The Los Angeles Times, quoting an unnamed source, reported Wednesday night that FBI agents, acting on a search warrant, took Burr’s phone at his home. The senator’s office declined to comment on the Times report late Wednesday night.

Burr had previously asked the Ethics Committee to review the stock-sale issue. The three-term senator announced four years ago that he wouldn’t seek re-election when his term is up in 2022.

He said in a statement his decision to step aside was necessary so the committee could “continue its essential work free of external distractions.” It wasn’t immediately clear who will replace him atop the Intelligence panel.

The decision throws into question the completion of the panel’s long-running Russia investigation. Burr had been working to wrap up work on the committee’s final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and release it to the public in the next few months.

The final report has been written and is in the editing stages, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite partisan divisions in other congressional panels, the Intelligence panel under Burr has backed the finding of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled with the intention of undermining Democrat Hillary Clinton and ultimately helping President Donald Trump win.

Burr also had subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony as part of his investigation, to the consternation of many other Republicans. Trump Jr., who last year called Burr “too weak to stand up to the Democrats,” appeared to cheer the senator’s travails on Twitter.

“Now I hope we see some action,” he tweeted at the news Burr was stepping down.

Burr’s office has said that his stock sales were unrelated to any information he received by virtue of his position as leader of the Intelligence Committee, which gets frequent briefings about threats facing the country.

Boty Burr and Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, have faced criticism for making stock transactions at a time when the Trump administration and Republican leaders were downplaying the potential damage the illness could cause in the U.S.

Loeffler’s aides have said that she didn’t know of the stock trades until after the fact because they were made by financial advisers.

A statement from Loeffler’s office Thursday said allegations of improper trading were “completely false” and added, “No search warrant has been served on Senator Loeffler.” The statement didn’t say whether she has been contacted by the FBI.

On Thursday night, Loeffler’s office, in another statement, said the senator had “forwarded documents and information to DOJ, the SEC, and the Senate Ethics Committee establishing that she and her husband acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law.”

Loeffler is married to York Stock Exchange chairman Jeffrey Sprecher.

Senator Feinstein

An aide to Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, an Intelligence Committee member, confirmed Thursday she has answered questions from the FBI about her husband’s stock transactions.

“She was happy to voluntarily answer those questions to set the record straight and provided additional documents to show she had no involvement in her husband’s transactions,” Feinstein spokesman Tom Mentzer said. “There have been no follow up actions on this issue.”

Feinstein has previously denied being at a Jan. 24 briefing on the coronavirus and has said her own assets were held in blind trust.

Senate Armed Services Chairman James Inhofe of Oklahoma, also sold stock after the briefings, according te financial records. Inhofe has said on Twitter that he wasn’t at the January meeting either and called the allegations baseless and false. His office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Burr sold 33 stocks on Feb. 13, according to his financial disclosure form, with a total value between $628,000 and $1.7 million. The sales were first reported by ProPublica. Three of the assets he sold were in hotel companies, which have seen their value plummet because of the global lockdowns brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Stock Act of 2012 made it illegal for members of Congress and federal officials to trade on nonpublic information about pending regulatory or legislative decisions. The law also requires them to publicly disclose stock transactions within 45 days after making them, in addition to the annual disclosure listing assets and liabilities.

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