Amid Insider Trading Probe, Burr to Step Down from Intelligence Committee

Sen. Richard Burr will be stepping aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the investigation into his stock trades, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday.

“Senator Burr contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision,” McConnell wrote in a statement. “We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow.”

FBI agents served a search warrant to Burr at his Washington, D.C.-area home on Wednesday night as part of an...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Thursday that Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is stepping down from his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee pending an investigation into possible insider trading.

Why it matters: The news comes one day after reports that the FBI seized Burr's phone as part of the investigation. Burr, who had access to classified briefings about the coronavirus, dumped between $582,029 and $1.56 million in March just prior to the market crash. He has denied wrongdoing.