Report: FBI serves search warrant on Sen. Richard Burr amid stock sale investigation

Sen. Richard Burr.
(Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) as part of the Justice Department's investigation into stock trades Burr made in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, a law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times.

The agents served a search warrant on Burr at his home in the Washington, D.C., area, the official said. Burr is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and on Feb. 13, during a time when he was receiving daily briefings from health officials on the coronavirus outbreak, he sold a hefty percentage of his stock portfolio in 33 separate transactions. One week later, the stock market took a dive. Members of Congress are prohibited from trading on insider information collected as part of their work.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.