"The answer, in one word, is yes. There should be and there will be," Schumer said. "I don't own any stocks. I think it's a very bad idea for senators to own stocks.

"There is either a conflict or an appearance of conflict, and one of the things we need with the public is some degree of trust. It's pretty low right now."

Akin to 1918 pandemic

Burr told members of the well-connected private Tar Heel Circle 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.

The Feb. 13 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, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned the private group about the dangers of COVID-19 on Feb. 27 — the same day President Donald Trump again publicly downplayed the virus.

“It’s going to disappear,” Trump said. “One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear. It could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens.”