.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."
Since the 1970s, Iowa has been the home of the first caucus, but it hasn't always selected the eventual nominees for each political party.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, February 3, 2020.
The Senate approved a resolution that will allow a final impeachment vote on Wednesday, after both the Iowa caucuses and the State of the Union address.
Senators voted against calling more witnesses today, after Senator Mitch McConnell called a quorum call, during which McConnell and his Democratic counterpart Chuck Schumer were seen huddling on the floor of the senate, likely discussing how to proceed.
Senators will get four hours of debate Friday before voting on whether to call witnesses and introduce documents — a vote expected to fail.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, January 31, 2020.
While the sitting president faces charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, his two predecessors are also facing a reckoning in the Guantánamo Bay military tribunal. President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial and the Guantánamo Bay tribunal both hinge in large part on the same unresolved issue: how much information can the executive withhold in the name of national security?
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters during the break that Republicans have the ”momentum” to move to end the trial tomorrow without witnesses.
Lead House Manager Adam Schiff in Trump's impeachment trial brought a little incredulous humor into the proceedings when he pointed out the Justice Department's contradictory position on subpoenas being presented in federal court on the same day.
The Committee met twice last week but held off making the designation that allows the organization to ramp up the international response to the coronavirus.
