WASHINGTON – Today, in response to reports the Senators Riichard Burr and Kelly Loeffler sold off significant amounts of stock in the immediate aftermath of being briefed on the spread of COVID-19, all while publicly stating that there was no reason for alarm, Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:
“Senators Burr and Loeffler have clearly placed their own personal financial interests ahead of the safety and wellbeing of their constituents, and they have no business continuing to act as public servants. They must resign, and their misconduct must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law under the 2012 STOCK Act.
The Department of Justice should prioritize investigating and prosecuting these Senators. Our entire government depends on the American people trusting that their elected officials are working with their best interests at heart. By using their official positions to benefit themselves at the expense of the American people, these Senators have betrayed the trust of their communities and constituents, and cracked the very foundations of our democracy at a time when trust in our government has never been more important.
Congress should pass laws that would make this kind of misbehavior impossible in the future. It is absurd that members of Congress are allowed to trade stocks at all. No one should personally profit from having the privilege of serving their nation as a legislator.”
For further comments or questions, please contact Sam Quigley at sam@patrioticmillionaires.org.