情报委员会主席，北卡罗来纳州参议员理查德·伯尔（Richard Burr）于2月份出售了超过100万美元的股票，其中包括两家住宿和酒店连锁店的股票。
Burr是否出售股票的决定是否受到有关冠状病毒信息的影响尚待证实，但福克斯新闻主持人塔克·卡尔森（Tucker Carlson）周四表示，伯尔是2月份发表的专栏文章的合著者，该文章声称美国“准备得更好面对像冠状病毒这样的新兴公共卫生威胁，它比以往任何时候都更应辞职并接受内幕交易审判。
卡尔森说：“伯尔掌握了有关我们国家现在可能正在发生的事情的内部信息。” “但是他没有警告公众。他没有给出黄金时段的讲话。没有在电视上发出警报。他甚至没有否认他声称美国十天前写的一篇文章。引用说，“比以往任何时候都为冠状病毒做好了充分的准备。”
卡尔森继续说：“相反，他做了什么？他抛售了酒店股票，以免亏损。” “然后他保持沉默。现在，也许他所做的事有一个诚实的解释。如果有，他应该立即与我们其他人分享。否则，他必须辞去参议院的职务，并面临内幕交易的起诉。”
卡尔森补充说：“在危机时期，没有比背叛你的国家更大的道德犯罪。” “那似乎就是发生了什么。”
《新闻周刊》曾向伯尔参议员的办公室发表评论，但没有及时得到答复以将其发表。
NPR称，卖出股票大约两周后，伯尔在北卡罗来纳州发表演讲，他告诉与会人员，冠状病毒的传播“比我们近代以来所见到的更具侵略性”。
伯尔说：“我肯定会有这样的机会，那可能是北卡罗来纳州的一些社区的传播速度，他们说，'让我们停学两周。每个人都待在家里，'”
周六，北卡罗来纳州州长罗伊·库珀（Roy Cooper）发布了一项行政命令，要求该州关闭学校2周。
伯尔并没有否认发表讲话，而是在推特上星期四的话题中说，他希望人们“有所准备”。
伯尔在推特上说：“我与选民分享的信息是，一名公共卫生官员敦促我们所有人注意冠状病毒传播的增加。” “做好准备。”
伯尔的传播总监凯特琳·卡洛尔（Caitlin Carroll）周四在推特上说，伯尔“一直在鼓吹公共卫生防范的重要性已有20多年了”。
卡洛尔继续说：“他的信息一直是，并将继续是，在发生大流行或生物袭击时，我们必须做好准备保护美国人的生命。”
纽约前代表克里斯·柯林斯（Chris Collins）在被指控利用自己作为澳大利亚制药公司董事会成员收到的信息来帮助他人做出投资决定后，于2019年10月对与内幕交易有关的11项指控表示认罪。
十二月，众议院通过了《内幕交易禁止法》，以平息这种做法。
TUCKER CARLSON CALLS ON SEN. RICHARD BURR TO RESIGN OVER STOCK DUMPING REPORTS
Intelligence Committee Chairman Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina sold over $1 million in stocks, including stocks in two lodging and hospitality chains, in February before the coronavirus pandemic sent the markets into a tailspin according to Thursday reports.
Whether Burr's decision to sell the stocks was influenced by information about the coronavirus has yet to be confirmed, but Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Thursday that Burr, co-author of a February op-ed piece which claimed that the U.S. was "better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus," should resign from office and be placed on trial for insider trading.
"[Burr] had inside information about what could happen to our country, which is now happening," Carlson said. "But he didn't warn the public. He didn't give a primetime address. Didn't go on television to sound the alarm. He didn't even disavow an op-ed he had written just ten days before claiming that America was, quote, 'better prepared than ever for coronavirus.'"
"Instead, what did he do? He dumped his shares in hotel stocks so he wouldn't lose money," Carlson continued. "And then he stayed silent. Now, maybe there's an honest explanation for what he did. If there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately. Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading."
"There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis," added Carlson. "And that appears to be what happened."
Newsweek reached out to Senator Burr's office for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Roughly two weeks after selling the stocks, Burr gave a speech in North Carolina in which he told attendees that the coronavirus "is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," according to NPR.
"There will be, I'm sure," Burr said, "times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, 'Let's close schools for two weeks. Everybody stay home,'"
Saturday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued an executive order closing schools in the state for two weeks.
Burr has not denied making the speech, but said as part of a Thursday thread on Twitter that he wanted people to "be prepared."
"The message I shared with my constituents is the one public health officials urged all of us to heed as coronavirus spread increased," Burr tweeted. "Be prepared."
Burr's communications director Caitlin Carroll tweeted Thursday that Burr "has been banging the drum about the importance of public health preparedness for more than 20 years."
"His message has always been, and continues to be, that we must be prepared to protect American lives in the event of a pandemic or bio-attack," Carroll continued.
Former New York Representative Chris Collins pleaded guilty to 11 charges related to insider trading in October 2019 after he was accused of using information he received as a member of the board of directors of an Australian pharmaceutical company to help others with their investment decisions.
In December, the House of Representatives passed the Insider Trading Prohibition Act in an attempt to quell the practice.
