U.S. Sen. Richard Burr told members of a well-connected private group that the novel coronavirus would have dire effects on the U.S. economy and population, likening it to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that left millions dead, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.

Also on Thursday, ProPublica reported that Burr sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million in stocks on Feb. 13, including in the hotel and hospitality industry.

The trading occurred six days after Burr co-wrote an op-ed piece saying America had tools in place to combat COVID-19 and seven days before the first major decline in the stock market.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned about the dangers of COVID-19 on Feb. 27 — the same day President Donald Trump downplayed the virus.

The audience was identified by NPR as the Tar Heel Circle, a nonpartisan group comprised of business leaders and entities. A membership in the group costs between $500 and $10,000 and the group claims on its website to offer “interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration and the private sector.”