Posted on 03/20/2020 5:48:52 AM PDT by EyesOfTX
Congress’s seamy underbelly floats up to the surface. – On his Fox News show last night, host Tucker Carlson lambasted Senator Richard Burr – chairman of the corrupt Senate Intelligence Committee – and demanded his resignation for off-loading millions of dollars in stock investments immediately after learning of the threat of the coronavirus.
Here’s a clip, followed by a transcript:
Acyn Torabi @Acyn 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
Embedded video
Transcript:
You may have seen the news reports this afternoon that the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee sold more than a million dollars in stock in mid-February after learning how devastating the Chinese coronavirus could be. He had inside information about what could happen to our country – which is now happening – but he didn’t warn the public. He didn’t give a prime-time address. He didn’t go on television to sound the alarm.
He didn’t even disavow the op/ed he’d written just 10 days before, claiming that America was “better prepared than ever for coronavirus.” He didn’t do any of those things. Instead, what did he do? He dumped his shares in hotel stocks so he wouldn’t lose money, and then he stayed silent.
Now, maybe there’s an honest explanation for what he did; if there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately. Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading. There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened.
[End]
Now, that’s all great: I have long been a critic of Burr, a useless RINO who has used his chairmanship of the Senate Intel Committee to literally cover up crimes committed against the Trump Campaign and Administration by the Obama-era coup cabal within the DOJ and the Intelligence Community. If he did engage in insider trading then he should resign and be prosecuted.
But let’s be honest here: If you think Burr is the only member of congress who has engaged in this kind of action over the past couple of months, you live in a fairy tale world.
The New York Times ran a report yesterday documenting similar actions by several other senators, including Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). That report is based on financial disclosure statements that members of congress must periodically file. Members are regularly tardy in filing these disclosures, and you can bet the shrinking balance in your 401(k) that we will soon discover that many more members did the same thing.
Some members, when they assume office, shield themselves from this kind of accusation by placing such investments in blind trusts, giving them the plausible deniability of saying that they take no active part in managing their investments. Inhofe, Feinstein and Loeffler all claim that is the case with their investments.
Interestingly, no one from Sen. Burr’s office has made a similar claim at this point. Here’s the statement his spokesperson put out yesterday evening:
“His message has always been, and continues to be, that we must be prepared to protect American lives in the event of a pandemic or bio-attack,” Caitlin Carroll, a spokeswoman for Mr. Burr, said in a statement. “Since early February, whether in constituent meetings or open hearings, he has worked to educate the public about the tools and resources our government has to confront the spread of coronavirus.”
Burr himself took to Twitter to issue a series of tweets about an NPR report covering a speech he made to a group of constituents in February, warning them of the potential impacts of coronavirus on the U.S. economy. Nowhere in those tweets does he attempt to defend his stock divestments.
If Burr does play an active role in managing his own trading, then this is a real problem for him, and helps to explain why Carlson went after him last night, but gave the others a pass.
That is all.
“Kelly Loeffler is claiming....”
Should have just left it there.
IMO there was plenty of information for a prudent person to have become concerned by 1/24 since there was significant illness in a major economy with spread to neighbors: SK, Japan, Singapore, Thailand & the USA by 1/24. China had closed their airports and started quarantine.
The entry on 1/24
China implements further travel restrictions; Starts building temporary hospital
-China has imposed travel restrictions on some more cities such as Chibi, Zhijiang, Huangshi, Xiantao, Enshi, Qianjiang and Xianning, according to the People’s Daily newspaper.
-Chinese authorities have initiated construction on a new temporary 1000-bed hospital in Wuhan’s Caidian district with a plan to complete it in a record time of just six days. With high level of safety and protection in place, the new hospital will treat patients of the deadly virus in isolation.
-Toll has increased to 830 confirmed cases in China with 95 patients remaining in critical condition.
Restaurant chains Starbucks and McDonald’s have announced shut down their stores in China’s Hubei province.
Airports in Malaysia, Canada, Thailand and Uganda implemented different measures to screen passengers who may be infected
Thailand has suspended flights from Chiang Mai Airport to Wuhan until 4 February.
Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority has started temperature screening at all checkpoints on 24 January.
He is a never Trumper and will be protected by the swamp. Bagpipe Billy will give all of them a free pass.
Pelosi real quiet right now working passing the Biden act.
We are above the law
He made these sales in late Feb? I don’t see a problem here. I was stocking up in late Feb. I think Tucker is bloviating.
He made them in early Feb, I read Feb 4th, that may be some, others might be later. By early Feb the word was out that we might be in for a rocky road. I think it will be a nothing burger.
I think most of them use a blind trust for just that reason, so they can’t be accused of takling advantage of their position.
If they knew we were invading NK a day ahead & sold I would say maybe insider trading. But we had had the daily drumbeat that there was a potentially serious infection since early January.
It’s a Big Club, and you ain’t in it.
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