In March, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), then the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was revealed to have sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million worth of stocks in February, despite attempting to assure the American public that the government was well-equipped to battle the then-impending coronavirus pandemic, around the same time his committee was being briefed on the virus. A week after Burr sold these stocks, the market began to plunge. Additionally, when the news broke, an audio recording was reported by NPR, where Burr appears much more concerned about the economic impact of the virus than he had publicly been letting on. In the wake of this discovery, Burr faced bipartisan calls for his resignation, as well as to be prosecuted for insider trading. Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken steps to investigate these stock transactions for potential criminal activity, serving a search warrant Wednesday to the senator at his home near Washington, and seizing his cellphone. However, can the FBI really be trusted to conduct a fair investigation into Burr's actions?
During his 2016 re-election campaign, the following FBI lobbyists indirectly donated to Burr:
Travis Johnson: Donated $1,000 to More Conservatives PAC (which contributed $5,000 to Burr), $850 to Peter Norbeck Leadership PAC (which contributed $7,500 to Burr), and $500 to Voice for Freedom (which contributed $5,000 to Burr).
Oliver Meissner: Donated $1,500 to Alamo PAC, which in turn contributed $5,000 to Burr.
Thomas Quaadman: Donated $500 to Right to Rise PAC, which in turn contributed $5,200 to Burr.
Additionally, the following lobbying firms that FBI lobbyists are registered under contributed to Burr:
Furthermore, the following clients that also double as lobbying firms contributed tens of thousands of dollars in PAC money to Burr:
As evidenced by their lobbyists' significant contributions to Burr, albeit mostly indirectly, the FBI's investigation into Burr's stock transactions has a very real possibility of being biased in his favor. It is a sad reflection on our political system when lobbyists and corporations are allowed to donate thousands of dollars to candidates, in this case, since the agency these lobbyists represent must investigate someone they've invested their money in. Unfortunately, with the system we have, examples such as this may not be anomalies.
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