Burr steps aside as Senate intelligence chair amid FBI probe

(AP) — A Republican senator with access to some of the nation’s top secrets has become further entangled in a deepening FBI investigation.

Agents examining a well-timed sale of stocks by Sen. Richard Burr during the coronavirus outbreak showed up at his Washington-area home with a warrant to search his cellphone. Hours later, the North Carolina lawmaker stepped aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The search warrant marks a dramatic escalation in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Burr exploited advance information when he unloaded as much as $1.7 million in stocks in the days before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet. Burr has denied wrongdoing.