Tucker Carlson calls on Burr to resign amid reports of stock selloff

Conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson called on Sen. Richard Burr (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.”