Senator asks for ethics probe into his own stock sales

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is asking for an ethics probe in response to criticism that he sold off as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid coronavirus fears.

Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels.

In a statement Friday morning, Burr said he had asked for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the matter, “understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight.”

Burr said he relied “solely on public news reports,” specifically CNBC’s daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus, to make the financial decisions.



Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Read more: https://apnews.com/5d0279fc73d040a1a287f47ed20b4fd5

[jls4561]

1. Nope, need special prosecutor or maybe the IG to investigate.

Can't trust Burr's cronies.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

7. My thoughts, exactly...

... MoscowMitch and Thune will make sure it gets the powderpuff treatment and dismissed as a funny, chuckle chuckle, mistake...in some way

[DENVERPOPS]

22. Yea, no shit

Looking for a hand slap from the Republican Senate ethics committee rather than a full blown SEC/FBI investigations.
Oh, wait, I forgot that BARR-DOJ are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. AND of course that they caught Senator Kelly doing the same insider trading with the same information leak, but on a much much larger scale and that her HUSBAND is PRESIDENT OF THE NY STOCK EXCANGE........

Hopefully this will be exposed continually in the news so that the American Public understands just how corrupt the whole group is and not worried the least bit about us, but only for themselves......

I'm sure these folks passed along the word to their top connected fellow zillionaires, but not to lower level zillion aires........

My immediate suspicion a month ago, when Trump and Republican Senate were dragging their feet, that the purpose was to allow the entire Trump Administration and Republican Senators enough time to re-arrange their own stock holdings and investments....

Of course, The 1% allows the Republicans to screw the lower 99% all day and every day and not say a word, but in THIS case many of the 1% weren't tipped off and that is a cardinal sin and they will get pissed off......"Thou Shall NOT Screw Over other Wealthy Republicans"

[truthisfreedom]

2. Smells like a coverup.

[Adsos Letter]

3. "'Burr said he relied "solely on public news reports...'"

Oh bullSHIT!

[JudyM]

19. Easy enough to check what was public at that time.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. OK, let's do the "investigation".........

led by members of the US Senate, yeah, the same guys that didn't want to have witnesses for the latest Impeachment hearings - the same ones that found IQ45 "innocent" of charges - and the same group that would control the majority of the "investigation."

Sounds like a fair plan to me......

[Traildogbob]

5. Do not overlook the real crime here

Manslaughter. Hiding the coming pandemic from American, not the wealthy ones, and the urgency that should have been shouted from the rooftops. Just so his King of MurKKKa could keep numbers down. He and this regime are responsible for many deaths, claiming Fake news, Dem Hoax while we should have been in the all out war to curb the deaths and getting medical supplies to front line defence. Now their lives are at risk. Burr is a war criminal. His theft is secondary. Sure, let Barr investigate him. We know that outcome.

[iluvtennis]

6. + 1 nt

[kag]

12. This should be an OP

And the senators who made money selling stocks just before the crash need to RESIGN IMMEDIATELY!

on edit: Including Feinstein.

[JudyM]

20. THIS.

Amorality in action.

[DENVERPOPS]

23. Depraved Indifference..........N/C

[ChiTownDenny]

8. LOL!

The same group that "exonerated" Trump? That's who he wants to investigate? Lock him up!

[ekelly]

9. Is it normal to sell hotel stock

a few months before spring break and summer vacation season?

[gibraltar72]

10. AG Harris will be all over this.

[joanbarnes]

11. BUT AL FRANKEN POSED FOR A PICTURE WITH SOMEONE'S BOOBS!

[kag]

14. You owe me a keyboard...

and a fresh cup of coffee!

[bucolic_frolic]

13. That has more holes than the Martha Stewart defense

She had a standing order, this guy knows both sides but ignored the one that helped him.

Senate Ethics Committee. Is that where Senators investigate Senators? Yeah, that's a dragnet.

[Johnyawl]

15. The problem for Burr isn't just the stock sale...

...it's the video of him sharing that information with his donors weeks before the government declared that it was a problem.

[DENVERPOPS]

24. It is really a bad situation

When they don't even try to conceal their corruption anymore......the know they are impervious to any and all prosecution.

For us, it was "KATIE BAR THE DOOR" when the Republican Senate acquitted Trump. It opened the door to a whole new level of:
(ANYTHING GOES!!!!!) grifting, corruption, law breaking...........

[Miguelito Loveless]

27. Well, avoiding a $500K loss

while helping his rich donors avoid similar losses is pretty goddamn low.

[Johnyawl]

29. Most definitely!

He'll have some bullshit excuse/cover story for the stock sales. That video is gonna be damned near impossible to make excuses for - although I'm sure he'll try. He should be jailed for that video alone.

[maxrandb]

16. Tells you about how effective an ethics probe is, doesn't it?

[ConstanceCee]

17. But First of All

I agree with a poster above that the bigger crime is having Covid 19 information and not revealing it publicly. But who else was at that meeting? Did they speak up?

[DENVERPOPS]

25. they only spoke up

to a few Uber rich connections and other Republican Senators.........

The tally is only four of them so far, I imagine those to be exposed will become like a graph of the spread of the Corona virus.......

Screw his financial mickey mouse.......Look at Senator Kelly and her immediately shuffling all kinds of things in her and her husbands portfolio. Her re-arrangement of assets was in the tens of millions. Ha....and her husband is PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, BELIEVE IT OR NOT.........HOLY FUCKING SHIT.......

WASF

[Happy Hoosier]

18. "Well SURE, I knew other stuff, but I only used the public stuff!"

And I told everyone things were just fine when I fucking knew they weren't. But... no foul!

[NotHardly]

21. Special prosecutore for all 4 of those "I got mine, F you Republicans"... like that would happen,

You know they do protect their own... not us, but their own.

[Miguelito Loveless]

26. And ethics probe?

Led by Mitch McConnell?

Right..

[Progressive Jones]

28. Apparently, he fears for his safety. nt