Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson has demanded the resignation of Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) for unloading up to $1.7M of stock after he participated in a briefing that projected public health and economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened," said Carlson.

While Burr was selling shares, president Trump was downplaying the threat from COVID-19 and assuring the public that the economy would remain strong.

Writing in the Washington Post today, Jennifer Rubin said it's hard-to-believe that the president did not get the same dire COVID-19 projections that Burr received.

"If Trump got no briefings telling him otherwise and believed the gibberish spouted by Fox News, he is the most negligent and incompetent president in history.

"However, if he knew otherwise — if he knew that the pandemic was coming and would have devastating consequences — then he betrayed his country in some futile attempt to keep the stock market pumped up for as long as possible," she wrote.

Trump must be taken to task.

During the Senate Watergate investigation, Republican Howard Baker famously asked, "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

What Republican Senator has the moral strength to ask the same of Trump about what he knew about Covid-19? Can the nation depend on the lone GOP Senator, Mitt Romney, who had the backbone to support the impeachment of Trump?

If Republicans fail to find to challenge Trump on coronavirus, the press should assume the job.

Rubin wrote that Americans have the right to know if the "president intentionally misled the country, thereby preventing the sort of preparation that could have saved thousands, if not millions, of lives."

We need to know if Trump committed the moral crime of betraying the country in a time of crisis that Carlson alluded to. If so, a second impeachment would let him off easy.