Sen. Richard Burr will step down temporarily as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee while under investigation by the FBI for his stock trading, a political earthquake that shocked Republican senators on Thursday and upended the Senate’s daily business.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Burr informed him he would step aside at the end of the day on Friday, news that followed the FBI serving him a search warrant and seizing his cell phone Wednesday evening as part of its investigation into his financial transactions.
The North Carolina Republican told reporters he stepped aside because the investigation is a “distraction to the hard work of the committee, and the members and I think that the security of the country is too important to have a distraction.” He will remain on the committee, a source familiar with the situation said, and his decision to step down for now is not required by the Senate Republican Conference.
Senate Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Thursday he got a heads up from Burr and said that the North Carolina Republican “did the right thing.”
“It’s in the best interest of the conference until this plays out. But he deserves his day in court, and deserves his due process” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).
The last senator to give up a leadership position was Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who stepped down as the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee when he was indicted on corruption-related charges. Republicans argued Burr was being far more proactive than Menendez.
It’s unclear who will take the helm of the powerful committee, but Thune predicted it could be Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who currently chairs the Small Business Committee. Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Susan Collins of Maine are also senior members of the panel, though Risch chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and may not want to take on the Intel chairmanship.
“The leader can choose who he wants … I’ll do whatever they ask me to do,” Rubio said Thursday. “My understanding is Sen. Burr will remain on the committee so whoever gets it is going to be a backup quarterback coming into the game for a few plays while the guy goes through a concussion protocol.”
A senior Justice Department official confirmed on Thursday that a warrant was served on Burr’s lawyer for the senator’s cell phone. The warrant was approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department, the official said, adding that authorities did not conduct a raid. It was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The FBI probe marks a dramatic escalation in law enforcement’s investigation of Burr’s stock trades in the run-up to a stock market crash amid the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, GOP senators declined to speculate Thursday on the North Carolina Republican’s fate and largely stood by him.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Intelligence Committee, said Burr is “entitled to the same presumption of innocence as Joe Biden,” referring to sexual-assault allegations against the former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he preferred to “just let the process play out.”
And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), like other GOP senators, said he still has confidence in Burr to remain as chairman of the powerful Intelligence Committee.
“The FBI is doing their job. I’ve known Richard Burr for a very long time, and I have a lot of confidence in him,” Graham said in a brief interview before McConnell’s announcement. Later when asked again, Graham said Burr would “never do anything criminal.”
Burr’s decision to step down as chairman caught Republican members of the Intelligence Committee by surprise.
Collins, when asked about the move, replied: “Oh wow.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I truly didn’t know about it. He’s been an excellent chairman of the committee.”
Burr is not the only senator to face scrutiny over his stock trades amid the pandemic. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) also reportedly made significant stock transactions early on in the pandemic.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) recused herself from a Senate agriculture subcommittee and liquidated all of her individual stock holding, after the Daily Beast reported in March that she sold millions of dollars in stocks after she too received a private briefing. Loeffler has defended herself, saying the transactions were made by a third party adviser.
Loeffler declined to comment Thursday when asked if she’s spoken to the FBI. A spokesperson for Loeffler said “no search warrant has been served on Sen. Loeffler” and that the Georgia Republican “has followed both the letter and spirit of the law and will continue to do so.”
A spokesman for Feinstein said the California Democrat and former Intelligence Committee chairwoman has answered questions and turned over documents to the FBI about her husband’s controversial stock trades.
Burr has come under fire for making more than two dozen transactions in February after he received closed-door briefings on the coronavirus pandemic. According to Burr’s Senate financial disclosures, he sold between $628,000 and $1.7 million worth of shares just before the stock market crashed. The 2012 STOCK Act prohibits members of Congress and staffers from trading stocks based on information obtained through their official duties.
Burr’s brother-in-law also reportedly dumped thousands in stocks on the same day, according to ProPublica.
The stock trades have prompted calls for Burr’s resignation from Congress. Burr has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to review his transactions, but has said little by way of defending himself against allegations of illegal activity.
Burr said Thursday he has been “been fully cooperative with everyone investigating me” and said he’d “absolutely” serve out the remainder of his term.
His Republican colleague, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), reiterated his call for Burr to explain himself on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Thursday. Tillis faces a tough re-election race this fall and Burr’s cloud of scandal could complicate his race.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said that just because Burr is under investigation “doesn’t mean you’re guilty of it” and said he’s “prepared to wait on the facts.”
Senate Democrats, however, were more emphatic about the severity of the investigation. Sen Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said “it’s a very troubling thing and obviously a very serious thing.”
If Burr were to resign, which seems improbable at the moment, it would trigger a special election this fall as well as an interim appointment. If he hangs onto his seat until September, under state rules a member of the GOP would be appointed to fill the seat through the end of his term.
It’s extraordinarily rare for a sitting senator to be a target of a federal investigation and be served with a search warrant. Menendez stepped down from his role as ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the same day he was indicted on corruption charges in 2015.
Wayne Goodwin, the chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, called on Burr to resign Thursday.
“If the evidence continues to mount, then this was a criminal abuse of power, plain and simple, and the FBI’s actions last night speak to the gravity of the situation,” Goodwin said in a statement.
The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman is not exactly viewed as being close to President Donald Trump and his allies. He came under fire last year after he issued a subpoena for Trump’s eldest son, Don. Jr., to testify as part of his panel’s probe on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel recently confirmed in a bipartisan report that Russia did interfere, backing up the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion.
In recent days, several high-profile Trump allies, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), have been intensely critical of Burr. Hewitt said that Burr needs to step down as committee chairman for now. The president himself has yet to publicly weigh in on the controversy.
James Arkin, Josh Gerstein and Martin Matishak contributed to this report.