Sen. Burr sold DC townhouse to lobbyists with business before his committee

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold his Washington DC townhouse to a group overseen by a donor and powerful lobbyist who had business before his committee, according to a report.

Burr (R-NC) never listed the $900,000 townhouse he sold to a team led by John Green, a lobbyist and longtime donor to Burr’s political campaigns, according to ProPublica, which raised ethics questions regarding the circumstances of the sale.

Not only was the small townhouse, located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, sold as an off-market listing, it was also priced tens of thousands of dollars over estimates of the property’s value, the outlet reports. The elevated price would allow the property to be purchased as a gift.

In 2017, the same year as the sale, Green had lobbied on behalf of “a stream of clients” who had business before Burr’s committees.

Green told the outlet regarding their report, “I have not lobbied the Senator or worked on an issue with his office personally since 2016.”

A spokesperson for Burr told the news agency, “The sale was finalized in February 2017 after a months-long process, which included an independent appraisal confirming the building’s market value and legal review of the title and contract.”

“The Senate Ethics Committee was notified before the sale and the Committee’s guidance was followed on all relevant public financial disclosures,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment by The Post regarding the allegations.

Burr has faced an avalanche of criticism in recent weeks, including calls to resign from members of his own party, after it was revealed that he had sold $1.7 million in publicly-traded stocks just one week before the market crashed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The North Carolina Republican was receiving near-daily confidential briefings as a senator on the worsening situation being caused by the virus, and went so far as to publish op-eds assuring the American people that the nation was prepared to tackle the rapidly-spreading virus.

His investment decisions being made just prior to markets entering a tailspin led critics on both sides of the aisle to accuse him of enriching himself off the crisis.

Burr has denied any wrongdoing, since claiming that the sales were guided solely by media reports about the rapidly spreading virus. He also said he had requested a Senate Ethics Committee review of his conduct.

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