Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is facing heat. |
North Carolina senator Richard Burr is under federal investigation for possible insider trading. The FBI raided his office and confiscated his phone, homes and computers. He just recently announced he's stepping down from the Senate Intelligence Committee. Also he announced he no longer seeking reelection in 2022. Democrats are going to seize on this as well as embattled Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) who is facing a tough challenger.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) along with Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) are under fire for allegedly buying and selling stock before Donald J. Trump confirmed the coronavirus was a national emergency. He notoriously had stock in airline companies that were at risk of having financial problems.
The seizure represents a significant escalation in the investigation into whether Burr violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they have gleaned fro their official work
Federal agents and prosecutors must persuade a federal judge they have probable cause to believe a crime was committed.
The Los Angeles Times report that a warrant being served to a sitting U.S. Senator would require approval from the highest ranks of the U.S. Justice Department and is a step that would not be taken lightly.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) is under fire. She and her husband decided to sell their stock after word got out it was going south. |
A second law enforcement official said FBI agents served a warrant in recent days on Apple to obtain information from Burr's iCloud account and said data obtained from the California-based company as a part of the evidence used to obtained the warrant on the senator's phone.
Burr sold a significant percentage of his stock portfolio in 33 different transactions on February 13th, just as his committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings and a week before the stock market declined sharply. Much of the stock was invested in businesses that in subsequent weeks were hit hard by the plunging market.
Burr and five other senators were given briefings from U.S. public health officials before the stock sales.
Burr, Loeffler, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) had sold stock before Trump issued the national emergency and then declared the pandemic.
Loffler who joined the U.S. Senate in 2020 is running for reelection. She is facing off against Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA). The Georgia lawmaker who is a staunch ally of Trump was pissed he got passed over for the appointment by Gov. Brian Kemp. He is trolling her for the Burr scandal.
Loffler, the co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream and a center-right lawmaker. She was appointed to the seat after Johnny Isakson resigned abruptly over health issues.
Loeffler must secure 51% of the vote to secure the nomination. If she gets less than 50.5% of the vote, they will have another special election.
Loffler is 6'1'' and is one of the tallest female's senators.
Burr is on the bubble. If he forced to resigned, Gov. Roy Cooper will appoint a person to fill the seat of the U.S. Senator until there's a special election.
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