It is now only a matter of time when finally Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, will have to tender his resignation. The allegations of Burr involving in insider trading by dumping stocks worth millions over coronavirus outbreak has strong grounds.
But what is shocking and disappointing is that he did this while lying to the Americans that "everything was going to be just fine."
While it simply wasn't the case. The number of those infected with the deadly coronavirus has reached over 16,000 and 225 have died till now.
Richard Burr in 2012 itself had made his stance clear on insider trading when he called the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (Stock) Bill "ludicrous." He was one of the three senators who were against the ban on insider trading and went on record in a radio interview in which he described himself as a "brave soul" for opposing an "insane" bill that would ban insider trading for Congress, congressional staff and other federal officials.
The Bill was passed with a majority vote in the Senate before it was signed by President Barack Obama.
There seems to be a weird irony considering how Burr, post 9/11 attacks supported "Bioshield Two" that offered to give "the Department of Health and Human Services "additional authority and resources to partner with the private sector to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines" -- a measure that could save countless saves in American post the coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak. The results of which are yet to be seen.
However, before Burr could take any credit for that, he has found himself in a deeper soup as now it has been established that Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee sold 33 stocks related to industries hit by the coronavirus (COVID 19).
Stocks worth $628,033 and $1.72 million were dumped by Burr and his wife in February while at the same time he wrote an opinion piece for Fox News suggesting that the United States was "better prepared than ever before" to confront the virus. Besides Burr, three other senators also now have been found to have off-loaded their stocks before the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
These revelations were first published by ProPublica and the Center for Responsive Politics. The NPR also leaked a recording of a private event attended top businesses and organizations in North Carolina, where Burr warned the attendees about the coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak and compared it to the 1918 influenza pandemic also known as the Spanish flu that infected 500 million people—about a quarter of the world's population—from January 1918 through December 1920.
