The Republican senator stepped aside from his role as Intelligence Committee chairman after the FBI seized his cell phone as part of a probe into his controversial handling of stocks at the start of
The news of Senator Richard Burr temporarily stepping aside from his role as chairman of the chamber’s Intelligence Committee was shocking to at least one of his colleagues on the panel, a reaction that was visible even beneath her face mask.
“Oh, wow. I don’t know what to say. I truly didn’t know about it,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said after Newsweek told her of the revelation. “He’s been an excellent chairman of the committee.”
The North Carolina Republican’s controversial stock market activity is under the microscope of federal authorities for selling large sums in the run-up to the novel coronavirus pandemic tanking the stock market. The Los Angeles Timesreported Wednesday night that the FBI—armed with a warrant—seized Burr’s cell phone, prompting the senator to temporarily surrender his powerful position.
“Senator Burr contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision to step aside as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee during the pendency of the investigation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced 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.”
Burr’s colleagues on both sides of the aisle hailed the decision to vacate himself as a necessary one, though they complimented how he’s managed his role as chairman of one of the most influential panels in Congress. The bipartisan approval and absence of negative remarks about a fellow senator was a representation of the more mild-mannered nature of the upper chamber.
“[Burr] took the appropriate—made the appropriate choice, the right choice in temporarily stepping aside and hope this issue gets resolved as quickly as possible,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member on Intelligence.
Warner added that the panel’s reports on investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election have all been bipartisan and unanimous from the start.
