News Roundup

The Los Angeles Times reported late Wednesday night that federal law enforcement agents seized North Carolina Senator Richard Burr’s cellphone while serving a search warrant at Burr’s Washington, D.C., residence.  The LA Times report also says that agents served a warrant on Apple in recent days to obtain information from Burr’s iCloud account.  The search warrants come as an investigation intensifies into whether Burr profited off of nonpublic information about the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic by selling significant investment holdings prior to the downturn in the stock market.  On Thursday morning, Burr announced that he would step down as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Keep reading for more news. Flynn Developments.  Last week the News Roundup noted that the U.S. Justice Department had moved to dismiss criminal charges it brought against former national security advisor Michael Flynn as part of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.  This week the federal judge presiding over the case, Emmet G. Sullivan, made the unusual move of appointing retired federal judge John Gleeson to present arguments in opposition to the DOJ’s motion to dismiss.  A New York Times article discussing Gleeson’s appointment says that at this point his role is “slightly ill-defined” and details of his post are unclear. Church.  The Johnston County Report noted this week that Sheriff Steve Bizzell has announced that his office would not interfere with church gatherings having attendance that exceeds the ten person limit currently applicable to indoor [...]