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Law360 (January 19, 2021, 11:11 PM EST ) U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said Tuesday that the Department of Justice has completed its investigation into his stock trading in the run-up to the COVID-19 pandemic and that it will not file charges.
The announcement comes after months of scrutiny surrounding the senator unloading stock ahead of the market declines spawned by the pandemic.
"The case is now closed," he said in a statement. "I'm glad to hear it. My focus has been and will continue to be working for the people of North Carolina during this difficult time for our nation."
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
ProPublica and the Center for Responsive Politics first reported in March that Burr had unloaded as much as $1.7 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 across 33 separate transactions, representing a significant portion of his total portfolio.
As public scrutiny intensified regarding the trades by Burr and other U.S. senators who sold stock ahead of the pandemic, attorneys told Law360 in March that regulators would be probing the cases, with CNN revealing later that month that the DOJ had opened an investigation.
Burr also took to Twitter that month in his own defense, stating that he'd relied solely on public information in executing his trades and that he had requested a Senate Ethics Committee review of the matter.
Burr and fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler — who recently lost her Senate reelection bid in Georgia — were reportedly privy to closed-door government briefings about the impending pandemic. Some questioned the legality of their actions, and others swiftly called for their resignations.
In addition to Burr and Loeffler, Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also sold stock and would have had access to government meetings, including a key Senate health committee briefing on COVID-19 in late January 2020 that was open to all Senate members and featured top Trump administration officials.
In May, Burr stepped down as chair of the Intelligence Committee, citing, to reporters, the importance of the work of the committee to national security as the reason for stepping aside, adding that he had been cooperating with investigators since the probe began.
"This morning, I informed Majority Leader McConnell that I have made the decision to step aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee until this investigation is resolved," he added in a subsequent statement. "The work the Intelligence Committee and its members do is too important to risk hindering in any way. I believe this step is necessary to allow the committee to continue its essential work free of external distractions."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued a statement the same day also stating that Burr had informed him of his decision to step aside during the "pendency of the investigation."
That announcement followed reports from the Los Angeles Times that the FBI had seized Burr's cellphone in connection with the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into Burr's trading activity.
--Additional reporting by Al Barbarino. Editing by Emily Kokoll.
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