WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is getting help paying his expensive legal bills related to a Department of Justice investigation for stock sales — and a lot of that assistance is coming from his Senate colleagues, according to documents filed with the Senate.
The North Carolina Republican has used donations from his fellow senators’ leadership committees to pay mounting legal expenses throughout 2021 as his own campaign account has dwindled.
Burr said in mid-January that the DOJ probe had been closed and no charges would be filed.
At least 25 current U.S. senators and one former member have contributed money since February to the Richard Burr Legal Expense Trust Fund, according to first-quarter documents filed with the Senate’s Office of Public Records and campaign finance reports. Fellow North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and two current U.S. representatives from the state have donated.
The fund, established in December, has paid out several hundred thousand dollars to a D.C.-based law firm in the first months of this year.
Such trust funds are legal under Senate rules established in 1980, and they contain stipulations on who can donate, how much, what happens to any leftover money and reporting guidelines. The fund has received at least $297,500 in contributions, most from fellow senators, according to the reports.
The 65-year-old Burr, who is not seeking a fourth Senate term in 2022, has paid more than $700,000 for legal services since July 2020, the reports show. The legal work came after he and his wife sold up to $1.72 million in stock at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The sale made national headlines, led to a Justice Department investigation and his resignation as intelligence committee chairman.
“The case is now closed. I’m glad to hear it,” Burr said in a statement in January.
The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer obtained a copy of Burr’s trust fund documents from the Office of Public Records on Thursday. The documents are not available online and must be viewed or copied in person.
Burr’s office declined comment on the legal expense trust fund and McClatchy’s questions Thursday.
Reports show that Burr has paid more than $405,000 in the last year in legal expenses from his campaign account, which is decreasing in funds. Burr ended 2018 with $247,341 cash on hand in the account, but as of the end of March, the account had less than $41,000 remaining, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
That’s where Burr’s Legal Expense Trust Fund has come in. Donors to campaign accounts are limited to $2,900 for the primary and $2,900 for the general election for 2022 — and that total covers the six-year election cycle. The trust fund, however, can accept $10,000 donations annually from contributors, making it easier to raise large sums of money.
In mid-January, Burr’s campaign account paid $95,000 to Latham & Watkins — the firm that was advising him on the Department of Justice investigation. Since then, the trust has paid $305,000 total with payments made at the end of February, March and April.
Burr’s reported net worth in 2018 was $7.4 million, according to the Center For Responsive Politics and based on Burr’s financial disclosures.
The trust received donations into May, though those have not yet been reported to the Office of Public Records. Those donations appear on other senators’ filings, including donations since April from Republican PACs affiliated with Sens. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Roy Blunt (Missouri), Ben Sasse (Nebraska) and Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania). A second-quarter filing is due this month.
The trust was “created for the purpose of receiving contributions to defray the legal expenses and related expenses of Senator Burr incurred in connection with inquiries by the Select Committee on Ethics of the United States Senate involving allegations of violations of the Standing Rules of the Senate and Federal statutes in connection with activities related to or arising by virtue of my Senate service, and any other legal expenses that have arisen or may arise in any judicial, civil, criminal, administrative, state, Federal or Congressional inquiries.”
That is standard language copied from a Senate template on forming such funds. The form has guidelines, including a maximum annual contribution of $10,000 and limits on who can donate. No registered lobbyists, lobbying businesses, employees of the Senate, corporations or labor organizations are allowed to contribute.
The trust cannot accept contributions from the principal campaign committee of any member of the Senate, which is why the donations come from leadership committees tied to senators.
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville reported a $5,000 contribution from his principal campaign committee to Burr’s trust fund in his campaign finance report, but the trust fund does not list the March 23 contribution among its receipts.
Any funds remaining when the trust is closed must be donated to non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations or returned to donors on a pro-rated basis. It must be closed six months after the completion of the legal proceedings.
Together Holding Our Majority, or THOM, PAC, a committee sponsored by Tillis, donated $10,000 on March 3, according to the trust’s quarterly report filed on April 6.
“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 Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin in a statement to The News & Observer.
“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,” Keylin said.
PACs sponsored by North Carolina U.S. Reps. Richard Hudson (First in Freedom PAC) and Patrick McHenry (Innovation PAC) donated $10,000 each in March. Former U.S. Rep. George Holding of North Carolina donated $2,500 through his Conservative Roundtable, according to the records.
Committees tied to the following Republican senators all donated either $5,000 or $10,000, according to the records: Sens. Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Mike Crapo (Idaho), John Cornyn (Texas), Marco Rubio (Florida), Jerry Moran (Kansas), Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), John Thune (South Dakota), Richard Shelby (Alabama), Rob Portman (Ohio), Susan Collins (Maine), Shelley Capito (West Virginia), Mike Braun (Indiana), John Hoeven (North Dakota), Roger Wicker (Mississippi) and Tim Scott (South Carolina).
Four Democratic senators, including Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also donated. Sens. Joe Manchin (West Virginia) contributed $10,000 and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) contributed $2,000 from their leadership PACs.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who led the intelligence committee with Burr, contributed $5,000 as an individual.
McClatchy contacted the offices of more than a half-dozen politicians who contributed through committees Thursday about their reasons for giving, but had not received comment.
Former Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, donated $10,000, and so did former House Speaker John Boehner through their PACs.
“In my view, it’s the least troubling of the money,” said Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause. ‘I am far more concerned seeing people with business before Burr’s committees than I am seeing money from other members of Congress.”
Burr is the top Republican on the Senate’s health, education, labor and pensions, or HELP, committee. He also serves on the intelligence, finance and aging committees.
Several prominent North Carolinians also contributed, including Erskine Bowles, a former White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, former UNC System president and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2004, when he was defeated by Burr.
Other donors from North Carolina include: Dale Jenkins, longtime CEO of a Raleigh insurance company; Felix Sabates, a NASCAR team owner; Paul Fulton, a former member of the UNC System Board of Governors; and John Burress, a businessman and philanthropist.
Albert Hegyi, CEO of 1st Financial Bank USA and a big Republican donor, contributed $10,000 on Feb. 8, the first day the trust fund received donations. Sabates, Fulton, Burress and Hegyi have donated to Burr’s campaigns in the past, according to FEC reports.
“There’s heightened concern of fundraising into a legal expense fund by a member of Congress not running for reelection,” Ryan said. “... The threat for corruption or, at a minimum, the appearance of corruption is greater when it comes to $10,000 contributions for a legal expenses fund for an individual who is leaving office in 18 months.”
Burr sold the stocks on Feb. 13, 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but before it had dramatically altered American life with large parts of the economy shut down for months and, as of today, more than 600,000 Americans dead from the virus. Burr reported the sales on his Senate financial disclosure.
Burr was the chairman of the Senate’s intelligence committee and a member of the health committee. He denied using inside information in making his sales, instead saying he relied on public news reports about the virus in Asia.
Burr also asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate.
Burr co-authored the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act in 2006, which has been reauthorized twice since. He expressed concern about the virus’ aggressive transmission capabilities to a group on Capitol Hill in late February.
In May 2020, the FBI executed a search warrant and Burr turned over cellphones, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times. Burr stepped down as chair of the intelligence committee the next day.
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