Richard Burr: Senate intelligence chairman steps down as FBI escalates investigation into his stock sales after coronavirus briefings

'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,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said

Senator Richard Burr, R-N.C., will step down from his chairmanship of the intelligence committee amid a federal investigation into his stock sales during the coronavirus crisis. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr will step down from his post effective Friday amid a Justice Department investigation into whether he illegally traded stocks on non-public information from coronavirus intelligence briefings earlier this year.

Federal law enforcement agents have seized Mr Burr's cell phone, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday.

Mr Burr told reporters on Thursday that the ongoing probe into his stock sales had become "a distraction to the committee work.”

The panel is expected to release in the coming weeks the final section of its five-part report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The fifth section of the committee's Russia report, which is being reviewed by intelligence officials for redactions of classified information, is expected to cover the US's politically sensitive counterintelligence efforts during the affair in 2016.

"The security of the country is too important to have a distraction," Mr Burr told reporters. "I thought this was the best thing to do.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the decision in a brief press statement on Thursday.

“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," Mr McConnell said of the North Carolina Republican, who has served as chairman of the intel panel since 2015.

"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," Mr McConnell said.

Mr McConnell did not immediately name a replacement for Mr Burr. The panel includes a handful of close McConnell allies, including Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the majority leader's top deputy in the last Congress who does not currently chair any committees.

The Justice Department announced in March it had begun probing insider trading allegations against some lawmakers' asset transactions as they were receiving early intelligence briefings about the coronavirus pandemic in January and February, before the crisis gripped the public and sank markets.

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Mr Burr attended a closed-doors, open-to-all-senators briefing for the Senate Health Committee on 24 January where infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield apprised lawmakers of the latest government reports from the coronavirus outbreak in China’s Wuhan province.

As chairman of the intel panel, Mr Burr had access to non-public reports about the coronavirus during that time, though it is unclear whether the US intelligence agencies that compiled those reports were providing information that couldn’t be cobbled together from public reporting.

On 13 February, three weeks after the initial 24 January briefing, Mr Burr sold off 33 stocks worth between $628,033 and $1.72m — his largest sell-off of assets in at least 14 months.

That sell-off included $250,000 worth of stocks in hotel companies that have seen their value plummet to more than half their value at points during the economic shutdown.

Mr Burr has said he did not rely on any non-public information while executing his stock transactions, but nevertheless called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate his actions.

In a statement in March, Mr Burr said he "closely followed CNBC’s daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time" of his transactions.

Mr Burr is not the only senator to face scrutiny over his stock sales.

Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is facing a stiff challenge from a member of her own party, Congressman Doug Collins, in the Peach State's all-party special election in November, has also faced scrutiny for her stock transactions.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California answered questions from law enforcement last month about stock transactions executed by her husband earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“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,” Tom Mentzer, a spokesman for Ms Feinstein, told the Times.

“There have been no follow-up actions on this issue,” Mr Mentzer said.