Senator Richard Burr’s (R-NC) potential scandal continues to advance as the FBI just seized his phone:
Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the novel coronavirus first struck the U.S., a law enforcement official said.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, turned over his phone to agents after they served a search warrant on the lawmaker at his residence in the Washington area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a law enforcement action.
The seizure represents a significant escalation in the investigation into whether Burr violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they have gleaned from their official work. [The Los Angeles Times]
I find this very interesting:
Such a warrant being served on a sitting U.S. senator would require approval from the highest ranks of the Justice Department and is a step that would not be taken lightly. Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to comment.
The pressure is surely getting stronger, as The Charlotte Observer reports:
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said Thursday he is temporarily stepping down from his post as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee amid an ongoing federal probe of his stock sales.
“It’s a distraction to a committee that’s extremely important to the safety and security of the American people and a distraction to the members of that committee being asked questions about me, so I tried to eliminate that,” Burr told McClatchy on Thursday outside the Senate.
Burr, a Republican, currently has a TrumpScore of 92.2%, but as chair of the Senate Intel committee, he has been involved in work that has not disputed intelligence reports that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election (see The Charlotte Observer report, above). Will Trump and AG Barr throw Burr to the sharks? I’m betting the answer is Yes – he’ll be an object lesson, not from Trump himself, but from the top leadership of the GOP to the rest of the membership, members of Congress on downwards, that election doesn’t free you from the overt obligations of Party membership. And that’s to protect the top leaders no matter what. There will be no application of ethical and moral standards to those leaders; they are to be considered Gods.
Waxing a bit purple today, aren’t I? Think of it as a psychological defense mechanism.
In any case, they’ll bet their marketing power will bring them victory in a special election in North Carolina. However, it’s worth noting that if Burr resigns before the November elections, Cooper, if he’s so empowered, will appoint a Democrat to replace him, much to the outrage of the North Carolina Republicans. That could bring more machinations.
Speaking of Burr’s home state, how are they feeling about Senator Burr? An Observer editorial:
Now, everything he does will be colored by that failure. Republicans know Burr is an albatross, an example opponents will use throughout this election season to argue that too many in the GOP, especially the president, have seen COVID-19 through the lens of personal gains and losses. North Carolinians know that he will be a source of shame to our state, that until he honors his long-ago pledge to retire in 2022, he will be the N.C. senator who tried to steal a lifeboat all for himself.
As the coronavirus crisis worsens here and across the country, so will the weight of what Richard Burr did and didn’t do. It’s difficult to see him as a visible or viable representative of our interests. His effectiveness as a leader has been profoundly hobbled.
And yet, Burr seems to have no intention of doing everyone a favor and resigning. Sadly, that’s not a surprise. At the moment we needed him most, Richard Burr was thinking mostly about himself. One week later, that hasn’t changed.
