Conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson
Tucker CarlsonO'Rourke slams Texas official who suggested grandparents risk their lives for economy during pandemic Texas lt gov: Grandparents 'don't want the whole country to be sacrificed' amid coronavirus closures Burr requests ethics investigation into stock sale, denies wrongdoing MORE called on Sen. Richard Burr
Richard Mauze BurrStimulus bill to prohibit Trump family, lawmakers from benefiting from loan programs Gaetz accuses Burr of 'screwing all Americans' with stock sale House bill would ban stock trading by members of Congress MORE (R-N.C.) to resign after reports that he sold off millions in personal stocks the week before the stock market began its steep dive amid fears of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, reportedly offloaded between $582,029 and $1.56 million of stock on Feb. 13 in almost 30 different transactions days after lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee were briefed on the virus.
“He didn’t give a prime-time address, he didn’t go on television to sound the alarm,” Carlson said, pointing out that Burr wrote an op-ed days earlier with a much less dire message about the impact of the virus on U.S. life.
Carlson then called for Burr's resignation and prosecution for his actions.
“Maybe there’s an honest explanation for what he did; if there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately,” Carlson said in a Thursday night segment on Fox News. “Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading.”
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
“There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened,” he added.
The report comes as Burr drew considerable criticism earlier on Thursday when NPR obtained an audio recording from Feb. 27 in which the North Carolina senator privately warned a group of constituents that the coronavirus outbreak was "akin to the 1918 pandemic."
