US Senator Richard Burr will step aside as chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, after the FBI seized his mobile telephone in a major escalation of a probe of his stock trades before the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Burr contacted him on Thursday morning to inform him of his decision to move aside temporarily during the investigation.
"We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow," McConnell said in a statement.
Burr has denied wrongdoing and said he relied solely on news reports to guide decisions on stock sales, amid reports he and other senators sold shares after private briefings on the risks of the coronavirus crisis.
He told reporters at the US Capitol on Thursday he decided to step aside because he did not want the investigation to distract the intelligence committee from its work.
"I thought this was the best thing to do," Burr said.
Burr's attorney, Alice Fisher, said in a statement that Burr was "actively cooperating" with the government inquiry.
Known for bipartisanship, the Senate panel is soon to release an extensive report led by Burr on Russia's involvement in the 2016 US presidential election. US intelligence determined that Moscow sought to meddle in the campaign to boost the Trump candidacy.
Moscow denies such actions. Trump dismisses the allegations as a hoax.
Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic committee vice chairman who has worked closely with Burr, told reporters he thought Burr had made the right choice in temporarily stepping aside, and hoped the matter would be resolved as quickly as possible.
The Republican senator turned over his phone to FBI agents after they served a search warrant at his Washington home.
The warrant marked a significant step-up in the investigation of Burr's stock sales in mid-February, when he and other lawmakers were receiving regular briefings on the coronavirus outbreak and President Donald Trump and some of his political allies were downplaying the threat to the public.
Trump said he did not know anything about Burr's decision and had not discussed Burr's situation with anyone at the Department of Justice.
"I know nothing about it... That's too bad," he told reporters.
Australian Associated Press
