Contributions To Richard Burr’s Defense Fund In Insider-Trading Investigation Top $540,000

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The legal defense fund for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) has received at least $540,000 in contributions, including $20,000 in the last three months of 2021, according to a disclosure filed in January with the secretary of the senate. 

The three-term senator had come under scrutiny for stock trades he made at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In January 2021, the Justice Department closed its investigation without filing charges. Yet a year later, the donations keep trickling in.

Forty-two current and former lawmakers have contributed to their former colleague’s defense. Former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), now an executive at JPMorgan Chase, contributed $5,000 of personal funds to Burr, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee. Martinez declined to comment on the record.

A PAC affiliated with Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) donated $7,500, after pitching in $2,500 back in April. And in December, the since-terminated PAC of former Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) chipped in $5,000. Spokespeople for the lawmakers did not reply to inquiries.

In fact, of the 42 members of congress to support Burr, only one had a staffer who would speak to Forbes on the record about the donation. “Every American is entitled to raise funds for their legal defense, and every American has a right to due process and the presumption of innocence,” said a spokesperson for the campaign of Thom Tillis, Burr's fellow Republican Senator from North Carolina, in August. “It was profoundly disappointing that some people motivated by partisan politics attempted to deny Senator Burr of his due process rights and wage a trial by media, even though a thorough and fair investigation ultimately cleared him.”

Burr’s defense fund has paid the law firm Latham & Watkins at least $535,000, according to his disclosures. His campaign has reported paying that firm an additional $235,000.

One of seven Republicans who voted to remove Donald Trump from office for his role in the January 6 riots at the Capitol, Burr announced in 2016 that he wouldn’t seek re-election when his term expires in 2022. His office did not respond to inquiries.

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