Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Sen. Richard Burr's resignation after he reportedly sold off $1.7 million in stocks after reassuring the public of US preparedness during the coronavirus outbreak

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during the Climate Crisis Summit in Iowa in November 2019.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York called for Sen. Richard Burr's resignation after he reportedly sold off up to $1.7 million in stock after assuring the public of US preparedness amid the coronavirus outbreak.
• ProPublica reported on Thursday that the Senator from North Carolina sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million of stock nearly a week before the markets fell due to mounting fears concerning the coronavirus.
• Burr co-wrote an op-ed for Fox News in early February assuring Americans that the US was prepared for the threat the coronavirus posed to the public.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez called for the resignation of Sen. Richard Burr after a ProPublica report revealed the US Senator sold off up to $1.72 million in stocks after reassuring the public of the United States' preparedness during the coronavirus outbreak.

Burr, who serves as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million of stock before the market fell as a result of mounting fears from the coronavirus pandemic, ProPublica reported.

"As Intel chairman, [Sen. Burr] got private briefings about Coronavirus weeks ago," Cortez tweeted. "Burr knew how bad it would be. He told the truth to his wealthy donors while assuring the public that we were fine."

"THEN he sold off $1.6 million in stock before the fall. He needs to resign," she continued.

Burr and Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee penned an op-ed for Fox News in early February assuring Americans that the US was prepared for the threat the coronavirus posed to the public.

"Thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump Administration," they wrote.

On Thursday, the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, has infected more than 243,000 worldwide, and the global death toll has surpassed 9,800. There are more than 14,000 confirmed cases across all 50 states, and the virus killed at least 211 people in the US.

Trump declared a national emergency on March 13 as the number of cases surged in the US. Some cites - and the entire state of California - are implementing shelter-in-place orders to keep Americans in their homes to contain the spread of the disease.

• Read more:
• A comprehensive timeline of the new coronavirus pandemic, from China's first COVID-19 case to the present
• For more than 2 weeks, state labs were told they couldn't use the CDC's coronavirus tests - but the tests were working all along
• Almost all US states have declared states of emergency to fight coronavirus - here's what it means for them
• Trump declares a national emergency over the coronavirus after weeks of downplaying the threat of the pandemic

NOW WATCH: 6 times Trump contradicted public officials about the coronavirus pandemic