This story will leave many people sick to their stomachs, as they struggle during these very troubling times. US senators have been accused of dumping stock as they knew about the forthcoming coronavirus crisis, that has spread throughout the world, during high level political briefings.
Republicans Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler and James Inhofe and Democrat Dianne Feinstein collectively offloaded up to $11million in stock between late January and early February, according to records seen by The Daily Beast, New York Times and ProPublica.
Richard Burr, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee which was directly briefed on coronavirus, sold up to $1.7m in stock between January and February . Dianne Feinstein, on the same committee, sold up to $6m in stock in same period. Kelly Loeffler, on the Senate Health Committee, sold up to $3.1m in stock starting on the day her committee was briefed by the CDC . James Inhofe sold up to $400k in stocks including real estate all on January 27.
Pointing to the NPR and ProPublica reports, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – one of the most famous House Democrats – called for Burr’s head.
‘As Intel chairman, @SenatorBurr got private briefings about Coronavirus weeks ago. Burr knew how bad it would be. He told the truth to his wealthy donors, while assuring the public that we were fine. THEN he sold off $1.6 million in stock before the fall,’ Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Thursday. ‘He needs to resign.’
US curbing border access as California and New York begin coronavirus lockdown
The US and Mexico have announced plans to sharply limit travel over their shared border as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump and Mexican foreign secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the two governments had agreed to prohibit recreational and tourist travel, similar to restrictions put in place earlier this week along the US-Canadian border.
Mr Trump said the actions with the country’s North American partners “will save countless lives”.
There would be no ban on people travelling for work or other essential activities and there would be no halt to commercial traffic, Mr Ebrard said.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the restrictions would take effect at midnight on Friday.
The US, Mexico and Canada have also worked out a new agreement to immediately return people trying to illegally cross the borders, citing the potential health risk of detaining migrants amid the outbreak.
By excluding commercial traffic from the ban, the two governments substantially softened the economic effects. Fewer Americans are heading south because of a statewide stay-at-home order in California and a State Department warning advising Americans not to travel abroad.