u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 1 https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/14/politics/richard-burr-steps-down-intel-
chairman/index.html
By Jeremy Herb, Manu Raju and Ali Zaslav, CNN
Updated 12:50 PM ET, Thu May 14, 2020
Washington (CNN)Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina is stepping
aside as chairman of the influential Senate Intelligence Committee while he'
s under investigation for stock trades he made ahead of the market downturn
sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday that
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." He said Burr's resignation as chairman will be effective at
the end of the day on Friday.
Burr's decision to step aside as chairman is a stunning development for the
North Carolina Republican, who has led the Senate Intelligence Committee
through its three-year investigation into Russian election interference that
is nearing its completion.
Shortly after McConnell's announcement, Burr told reporters he is resigning
as intelligence chair because "this is a distraction to the hard work of the
committee and the members and I think the security of the country is too
important to have any distractions."
Burr also said he has been cooperating with investigators "since the
beginning" and will let the investigation play out.
He stepped down after the FBI served his lawyer with a search warrant and
Burr surrendered his phone Wednesday, a senior Justice Department official
told CNN. The use of the search warrant had been signed off at the highest
levels of the Justice Department, as is protocol, the official said.
The Los Angeles Times first reported the warrant.
It's not immediately clear who will take over as chairman of the committee.
Committee members Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho, Marco Rubio of Florida and Susan
Collins of Maine are next in line in seniority, though all currently lead
other committees.
Senate Republicans reacted cautiously to the news of Burr's search warrant
on Thursday, saying that the matter of his chairmanship was between Burr and
McConnell.
"There's due process he deserves like everybody else that he'll be going
through, but I think ultimately that's a conversation probably between him
and the leader," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate's No. 2
Republican.
McConnell did not respond to questions about Burr in the Capitol on Thursday
. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, also declined to weigh in
ahead of the news Burr would step aside.
Burr came under fire in March when it was first disclosed that he and his
wife made nearly three dozen stock trades worth between $628,000 and $1.7
million on a single day, February 13, representing a significant portion of
his stock portfolio.
As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr has received
classified briefings on the coronavirus outbreak in addition to closed-door
briefings all senators had access to as the virus spread.
CORONAVIRUS MARKETS DASHBOARD
As coronavirus spreads through the global economy, CNN Business is tracking
the stocks, sectors and indicators most impacted, in real-time.
Burr has said that he made the trades using only publicly available
information, not classified briefings. But he asked the Senate Ethics
Committee to review the sales in March.
Congress passed the Stock Act in 2012, which explicitly made it illegal for
members of Congress to trade stocks with inside information. There's no
public evidence that Burr broke the law or violated Senate rules with the
trades.
In addition to the trades Burr made on February 13, the senator's brother-in
-law, Gerald Fauth, sold six stocks worth between $97,000 and $280,000 on
the same day as Burr. Fauth is a member of the National Mediation Board,
which deals with aviation and rail commerce.
Burr's attorney, Alice Fisher, said last week that Burr did not coordinate
his trades with Fauth. Burr's attorney did not respond to requests for
comment.
Burr's fellow North Carolina senator, Republican Thom Tillis, who is up for
reelection in 2020, declined to weigh in on whether Burr should step down as
intel chairman on Thursday, saying that "is something between the Senator
Burr, and the leader."
"I do believe as I said before he owes us all an explanation and I was well
aware of the fact that an investigation is moving forward, we just need to
see where the investigation ends," Tillis said in an interview with
conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said CNN's "Newsroom" that the
trades "bear further investigation."
"Senator Burr has called for further investigation, he feels like everything
was in the up-and-up and he'll be exonerated," Cassidy said. "I have not
read anything but the headline, but it's important that the American people
have faith in Congress and that's part of it. Richard welcomes that; I
welcome that."
Schumer said on CNBC Thursday that it was "premature" for him to comment on
the investigation into Burr.
"I don't own any stocks. I've told my colleagues in the Senate at the very
least it creates the appearance of a conflict, so it's better not to own any
. But I cannot comment on Burr until I know the details," Schumer said.
Senate Republican conference rules state that chairs should step down if
they are indicted, but the rules do not make reference to senators who are
under investigation.
Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, stepped down as ranking member of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2015 after he was indicted. He
returned to that post in 2018 after the Justice Department dropped the
corruption charges against him.
In March, CNN reported the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission had
contacted Burr as part of a probe into stock trades made by lawmakers
surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. Burr has declined to discuss the
situation when asked about his trades in the Capitol. "I am not talking
about any of that. Thanks, though," he said Tuesday when asked to comment on
the trades his brother-in-law made.
This story has been updated to include additional background information and
reaction.
CNN's Ted Barrett, Lauren Fox, Evan Perez and David Shortell contributed to
this report. |
|
