As Twitchy reported earlier, Republican Sen. Richard Burr was reported to have held a meeting with well-connected constituents and warning them about the severity of the coronavirus crisis. It didn’t seem like a big deal since the information had already been shared by the CDC, but then some further digging found out that Burr had sold off $1.6 million in stocks after telling business leaders that the coronavirus would be akin to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
Now people on both sides of the aisle, from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson are calling on Burr to resign.
Tucker Carlson calls for Senator Burr to resign and await prosecution for insider trading if he cannot provide a reasonable explanation for his actions. He goes on to say it appears that Senator Burr betrayed his country in a time of crisis pic.twitter.com/q7yJa5wjuA
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) March 20, 2020
Hey congrats, Senator Burr. You've united people from both sides of the aisle. We are all disgusted. https://t.co/HvDHx9U8Aw
— Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) March 20, 2020
Regardless of party, any office holder or official who used classified, insider government knowledge about this pandemic to play the stock market and enrich themself (or save their fortune) while the public was still being told to “invest in America” deserves severe punishment
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) March 20, 2020
Of course, when caught they will just claim an “information mosaic” defense and say “gosh I just got really lucky with those massive trades I guess”
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) March 20, 2020
And it looks like Burr wasn’t alone in dumping stocks. GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler not only sold off stock, but purchased stock in a firm that sells teleworking software.
EXCLUSIVE: It's not just Burr. A second GOP senator dumped millions in stock after an all-senate coronavirus briefing. https://t.co/m5daQ3ftrd
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) March 20, 2020
NEW: Sen. Kelly Loeffler sold between $1.2M and $3.1M worth of stock in the three weeks beginning on Jan 24—the day of a closed-door, all-Senator briefing on the coronavirus https://t.co/euaTv2JtIL
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 20, 2020
Loeffler also purchased between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, which offers popular teleworking software and has actually seen a slight bump in its stock price https://t.co/euaTv2JtIL
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 20, 2020
Have you ever noticed that the sound of pitchforks being sharpened can be quite distracting when lots of people are doing it at the same time? Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing https://t.co/Hwzcw5rc2B
— Patrick Deneen (@PatrickDeneen) March 20, 2020
Burr and Loeffler making notes to dump their stocks following their coronavirus briefing while telling the public to stay calm long enough so they can max out their profits.
They both need to go and anyone who defends this is only exposing what a soulless hack they are. https://t.co/TXDv7CnkWN
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) March 20, 2020
Thank you to Tucker Carlson for calling this what it is – Burr and Loeffler should be gone immediately and absolutely prosecuted for profiting off insider information. https://t.co/pUivvcXw8w
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) March 20, 2020
Not only did Sen Loeffler use the briefing to dump her stocks while telling Americans not to worry, she even bought stock in telecommunications knowing that people would be ordered to stay in.
This is as corrupt as it gets. Loeffler needs to be gone immediately and prosecuted. https://t.co/cc0iOLGUEU
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) March 20, 2020
There’s dumb (selling your stock after the briefing) and then there’s dumb AND greedy (selling your stock after the briefing while also BUYING OTHER STOCKS THAT WILL BENEFIT). https://t.co/cWXugbAUzH
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) March 20, 2020
One other data point: Loeffler had not made a single stock transaction during the three weeks she served in office prior to this one. This was her first. The day she got the coronavirus briefing. https://t.co/71ZojVAfaS
— Sam Stein (@samstein) March 20, 2020
The potential insider trading is dreadful and possibly criminal, but what could elevate this to a historic scandal is the idea that senators may have known enough to be alarmed for themselves yet still projected rosy scenarios to the public AND failed to make sure we were ready. https://t.co/PeMktkEPFA
— David French (@DavidAFrench) March 20, 2020
When you got Charlie Kirk, AOC, and Tucker Carlson all agreeing with each other, you f**ked up bigly. https://t.co/SjD4xM4xu3
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) March 20, 2020
"Investment tips for the well-connected" by Richard Burr
— Federalist PitchBot (@FederalistPitch) March 20, 2020
Burr should just be grateful that tarring and feathering is no longer in vogue these days. https://t.co/4SOCfVlHnv
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) March 20, 2020
AOC is right, folks. https://t.co/bEOvRJAGVF
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 20, 2020
Those two senators should resign. That’s some bullshit right there. If it’s not illegal it’s highly unethical
— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) March 20, 2020
95% of what the stooges in D.C. do in one tweet https://t.co/0bZuglws1I
— RIP AND TEAR (@Crimson__Edge) March 20, 2020
Tomorrow’s news cycle should be interesting. Wonder if any other senators in that briefing shifted some stocks around?
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