This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr stepped down temporarily on Thursday, May 14, 2020, amid an FBI investigation into alleged insider stock trading tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
The investigation centers on Burr's sale of stocks in February, before the pandemic struck the US, and while Americans were being told the virus's threat was low.
Burr informed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he would give up the chairmanship temporarily while the FBI investigation is ongoing, citing the importance of the Intelligence Committee's work.
"The work the Intelligence Committee and its members do is too important to risk hindering in any way," Burr said in a statement.
"I believe this step is necessary to allow the committee to continue its essential work free of external distractions."
According to reports, Burr sold between $628,000 and $1.7 million in stocks on February 13, two weeks after he told a private gathering of wealthy donors that the coronavirus was a threat akin to the 1918 Spanish Flu.
At the time, President Donald Trump was playing down the danger to the public, and Burr's private view of the threat differed from the government's public stance.
The FBI investigation of a senior senator is rare and would have been approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department, legal specialists say.
Burr is respected for keeping the Intelligence Committee independent as it investigated Russian meddling into the 2016 election and possible collusion by President Donald Trump's campaign.
However, his stock sales sparked outrage as millions of investors saw their shares plummet after the pandemic forced a shutdown of much of the global economy.
