On February 27, the day Trump told Americans that “One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) told a private group of well-connected constituents to prepare for a serious social and economic disruption. A secret recording reveals that Burr told donors to reconsider travel, prepare for schools to close, and expect military mobilization: “There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history.” Burr, who could have amplified that warning to the country as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said nothing of the kind in his public comments. But he did sell off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stocks before the markets crashed.
Just a friendly reminder that, for reasons I hope they are forced to explain, Republican leaders lied to the American people about what they knew and when they knew it. There are going to be real public health consequences from these lies, and I sure hope there are political consequences, as well.
