REPORT: Republican Senator dumped MILLIONS in stock just before the market tanked due to coronavirus

by The Right Scoop

There’s a new report out about North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, who leads the Senate intelligence committee and has already announced he’s retiring. The accusation is that he sold millions in stock, based on inside information, just before the market tanked due to the spread of the coronavirus:

FOX NEWS – Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., may have cashed in before the stock market was in free fall due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new report.

ProPublica alleged on Thursday that Burr “sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 29 separate transactions” in filings listed in the U.S. Senate Financial Disclosures website as he was regularly being briefed on the rising threat of the virus.

A spokesperson for Burr told Fox News, “Senator 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. As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy. He supported Congress’ immediate efforts to provide $7.8 billion for response efforts and this week’s bipartisan bill to provide relief for American business and small families.”

Without knowing what he knew it’s difficult to say with any certainty. But it definitely looks bad and members of Congress are known to do this.

I would note, however, that there could be another explanation. The very day before he unloaded all of his stock, the Dow had hit an all time high of 29,551. The day he sold it all, the Dow closed at 29,423. It’s entirely possible that he sold all of his stock simply because the market was as close to 30,000 as it had ever been and his stocks were peaking. It would be another 7-8 days before the Dow Jones would fall off a cliff.

I’m not defending Burr, just offering this as a possibility. He may be as crooked as they come and used insider information to inform his sale. Being a week out from the crash, that’s entirely a possibility too. It’s likely, however, that if it was corrupt it was still legal. Even after Obama signed the Stock Act, which made using insider information in Congress illegal, it was reported that a year later Obama signed a new law that undid big parts of the Stock Act.

Here’s a short clip from Tucker Carlson on the news if you want to watch it:


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