Senator Richard Burr, tasked with investigating Trump-Russia, co-chaired Donald Trump fundraiser
Republican Senator Richard Burr got himself in trouble over the weekend when it was revealed that Donald Trump’s White House had leaned on him to call up reporters and tell them that there was nothing to the Trump-Russia scandal. That’s a problem, because Burr is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee tasked with investigating the Trump-Russia scandal. But it gets worse for Burr, because he’s politically tied to Trump financially as well.
In a nation of partisan politics, it’s a given that politicians of the same party are going to endorse each other and make campaign appearances together. But Senator Richard Burr wasn’t merely your average partisan Republican during the 2016 presidential election. In fact, when Donald Trump headlined a fundraiser in Charlotte in August of 2016, Richard Burr was listed as an “honorary co-chair” in a report from the Charlotte Observer newspaper. That puts them in bed together in terms of political finances.
The fundraiser, combined with Burr’s role in this month’s attempted White House coverup of the Trump-Russia scandal, establishes that Burr and Trump are too closely aligned for Burr to be able to investigate Trump in an objective manner. This is a problem, considering that Burr is the chair of the relevant Senate committee leading the Trump-Russia scandal investigation.
As a practical matter, Burr’s lack of objectivity may not stand in the way of anything. With Republican Senator Susan Collins now leading the way on the Trump-Russia scandal investigation, she and the Democrats on the committee have enough votes to override any dissent from Burr, his chairmanship notwithstanding.
But there’s a reason why Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he was putting Richard Burr “on notice” this week. Burr needs to handle the Trump-Russia investigation to the letter going forward, and if he fails to do so, we’ll be publicly calling on him to recuse himself from the committee investigation entirely. Help us investigate Trump-Russia!
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