.By Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., stepped aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday after the FBI served a search warrant for his phone as part of an ongoing insider-trading investigation tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the move, saying he and Burr had agreed it was in the Senate's best interests.
FBI officials showed up at Burr's home with the warrant on Wednesday, marking a significant escalation into the Justice Department's investigation into whether Burr broke the law with a well-timed sale of stocks before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet,
The Justice Department declined to comment. His attorney did not respond to phone and email messages, but said last month that the law is clear that any senator can participate in stock market trading based on public information "as Sen. Burr did."
The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections.
IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyberespionage effort that used targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information associated with a U.N. initiative for distributing coronavirus vaccine to developing countries.
President-elect Joe Biden has swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort. That comes as his top Capitol Hill allies cut their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half.
Peter Rawlinson, CEO of electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors, joined Cheddar to discuss its new plant in Arizona and hopes for a more supportive policy on EVs from the incoming Biden administration.
The health agency also announced new guidelines that shorten recommended quarantines after close contact with someone infected with coronavirus. Now people can resume normal activity after 10 days, or seven days if they receive a negative test result.
The Transportation Department issued a final rule Wednesday covering service animals. The rule says only dogs can qualify, and they have to be specially trained to help a person with disabilities.
The head of the United Nations is calling on countries to end what he calls a war on nature and instead embrace a future without carbon pollution triggering global warming.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, discusses a wide range of current topics regarding the COVID-19 pandemic with Cheddar.
An influential government advisory panel says health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
