When it became clear to Senators with security clearance that the

country was about to enter the 2008 recession, instead of working

to cushion the blow for the country and North Carolina, Burr told

his wife to withdraw cash from their shared bank account, presumably

because he expected banks to fail. “I want you to go to the A.T.M.,

and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take,” Burr shamelessly told reporters, according to The Hill.

 

In February 2020, Burr warned members of a private organization “behind closed doors” that the coronavirus was “much more aggressive than anything we have seen in recent history,” while publicly downplaying the severity. Additional reporting revealed Burr had sold huge amounts of stocks collectively worth between $628,000 and $1.7 million just days before the markets dipped.

 

Pressure came from all sides for Senator Burr to resign after damning evidence revealed that he used his position and classified information to sell “a fortune” of stock ahead of a market crash. Last week, national and local editorial boards blasted Senator Burr for his “rank betrayal of the public trust — and possibly in violation of the law,” after just a week before his sell off Burr wrote in an op-ed that the U.S. “is better prepared than ever before” to contain the virus.

 

Additionally, a shareholder sued Burr for failing his “duty to Congress, the United States government, and citizens of the United States,” calling him “a scofflaw in a time of national crisis.” Polling found that half of North Carolinians believe he should resign. And the SEC “declined to comment” on whether they have opened an investigation into Burr’s stock sell off.

 

More on Richard Burr: 

 

• In April 2020, Senator Richard Burr sold his Washington, D.C. townhouse in a private transaction to longtime lobbyist John Green for “tens of thousands of dollars above some estimates of the property’s value.” Green is a longtime donor to Burr’s political campaigns and lobbied “on behalf of a stream of clients with business before Burr’s committees.” Burr appears to have used the proceeds from the sale to buy a beach house.