GOP senator dumped as much as $1.56 million in stock before markets tanked over coronavirus

Sen. Richard Burr offloaded between $582,029 and $1.56 million worth of stock about a week before the stock market began to plunge because of the coronavirus. The North Carolina Republican chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is briefed on and has access to information related to the most serious threats facing the United States. Burr sold the stock through at least 29 separate transactions on Feb. 13, according to ProPublica. A week later, the stock market began to slide and has lost nearly a third of its value since. While Burr’s committee reportedly received daily updates on the coronavirus threat, it is unclear when those closed-door briefings began. Burr’s office declined to say whether the first briefing was held before, on, or after Feb. 13, citing committee policy that committee members do not comment on closed-door briefings.

On Feb. 7, Burr had encouraged Americans that the U.S. is "better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus," in a Fox News op-ed with GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak," a spokesperson for Burr told the Washington Examiner in a statement. "As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy. He supported Congress’ immediate efforts to provide $7.8 billion for response efforts and this week’s bipartisan bill to provide relief for American business and small families," the spokesperson said.

Burr issued a more dire warning about the coronavirus on Feb. 27 when speaking at a luncheon hosted by the North Carolina State Society. "There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," Burr said, according to a recording obtained by NPR. "It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, a former 2020 presidential candidate, called for Burr to "suspend his chairmanship" and be investigated for possible insider trading related to his Feb. 13 stock selloff. "As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I know that our committee receives sensitive information, including assessments and projections, before others in Congress and the general public (if ever)," Castro tweeted on Thursday after the news of Burr’s stock transaction dropped.

In January, former GOP Rep. Chris Collins was sentenced to two years in prison after he advised his son and another man to sell off stock in an Australian bio-tech company before news broke that the companies latest drug trial had failed. Collins kept his stock, but investigators said Collins’s warnings amounted to an illegal savings of $768,000 on insider trading.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/gop-senator-dumped-as-much-as-1-56-million-in-stock-before-markets-tanked-over-coronavirus

Obama White House lawyers fight Carter Page’s DNC lawsuit by defending 'gist' of Steele dossier

The Democratic National Committee’s legal team, bolstered by Obama White House lawyers, moved to dismiss a lawsuit from onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, arguing the "gist" of British ex-spy Christopher Steele's controversial dossier was true. In January, Page filed a lawsuit against the DNC, powerhouse law firm Perkins Coie, and its lawyers Marc Elias and Michael Sussmann, alleging they maliciously engaged in a defamatory conspiracy in 2016 that cast false light on his character and interfered with his ability to make a living. “The Defendants are private actors who used false information, misrepresentations, and other misconduct to direct the power of the international intelligence apparatus and the media industry against a private individual, Plaintiff Carter Page, to further their political agenda,” Page’s 23-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois read.

This week, the high-profile lawyers defending the DNC and Perkins Coie filed a 43-page motion asking the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that the court lacked jurisdiction, that Page’s claims of defamation and conspiracy passed the statute of limitations, and that Page failed plausibly to allege defamation and conspiracy. They also argued Page had not alleged “actual malice” or proven any economic losses. The DNC’s attorneys insisted “the allegedly defamatory statements” against Page “were substantially true” and “are capable of an innocent construction.” “Here, the ‘gist’ of the complained-of statements — that Page coordinated with Russian government contacts as an adviser to the Trump campaign — aligns with Page’s own description of his conduct,” the DNC’s team said. “Page’s own allegations demonstrate the substantial truth of statements that Page traveled to Russia and met with associates of the Russian government. Plaintiffs’ defamation claims should be dismissed based on that basis alone.”

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December that criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act monitoring of Page, a U.S. citizen who was suspected of being an agent for Russia but was never charged with wrongdoing, and for its heavy reliance on Steele’s salacious and unverified dossier, which was funded by the DNC. The DNC legal team, compromised of five lawyers from Latham & Watkins, including lead counsel Terra Reynolds, former Obama deputy White House counsel Nicholas McQuaid, and former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, claimed: “The statements at issue in this case are not merely susceptible of an innocent construction — they relate to business and political contacts that Page himself undisputedly cultivated in Russia.”

The reports by special counsel Robert Mueller and Horowitz cast doubts on assertions made by Steele in his dossier, which was published in part in a September 2016 Yahoo News article that was used in FISA filings against Page and in full by BuzzFeed in January 2017. Steele’s dossier claimed there was “a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and the Russians, which was “managed” by Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort by “using … Page and others as intermediaries” with the Russians. The compilation of reports also asserted that, in the summer of 2016, Page held “secret meetings” with Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin and Putin’s deputy chief Igor Divyekin during which Sechin mentioned “lifting Western sanctions against Russia” and Divyekin discussed releasing a “Russian dossier of kompromat” on Hillary Clinton. These claims were echoed in Yahoo’s Michael Isikoff’s article citing a “Western intelligence source”: Steele.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/obama-white-house-lawyers-fight-carter-pages-dnc-lawsuit-by-defending-gist-of-steele-dossier

Carter Page vs. DNC Obama Lawyers

https://www.scribd.com/document/452363586/Carter-Page-v-DNC-Perkins-Coie-Motion-to-Dismiss#fullscreen&from_embed

https://www.scribd.com/document/452363701/Carter-Page-v-DNC-Perkins-Coie-Complaint#fullscreen&from_embed

>>8482411

Those whom represent the people of the United States of America…should be above reproach. There are many things that are legal, but it doesn't necessarily make it right.

>>8482470

see:

>>8482474

Those whom he represents..should vote the way they see this situation. Thinking this doesn't bod well for anyone who operates in this fashion. Not any different than insider trading.. which is exactly what this is, the only difference is it's legal for lawmakers, and prison for the rest of us.

>>8482544

>i could care less.we got politicians and former presidents who enjoy roasting our own people alive and opening the floodgates to bloodthirsty radical muslims and supplying them a cushy lifestyle in our neighborhoods paid for by us while they plot our total and complete destruction.

>

>i could give two fucks about some martha stewart stock bullshit

>>8482544

>i could care less.we got politicians and former presidents who enjoy roasting our own people alive and opening the floodgates to bloodthirsty radical muslims and supplying them a cushy lifestyle in our neighborhoods paid for by us while they plot our total and complete destruction.

>

>i could give two fucks about some martha stewart stock bullshit

Your response is exactly why we are in this moment in time… If citizens give and inch..They will/and do take a mile.

>>8482586

Finally, don't know why this wasn't so in the first place.

>>8482655

Same boat here anon..wondering myself.