When senators in D.C. want to avoid tough questions from reporters in the halls of the Capitol,

they've got a trick. You might have used this one, too. They simply pretend to be on a cell phone call,

rush by with an air of distraction, duck into an elevator.

But as of last week, at least one senator was not able to deploy this trick anymore,

Senator Richard Burr.

Are you planning to participate and cooperate with investigators?

I have been since the beginning.

You can find video of Senator Burr, last week, getting peppered with questions.

He's wearing a University of North Carolina tar heel mask, and he's got nothing in his hands and nowhere to hide.

Have you turned your phone over to investigators?

The news had just leaked. The FBI had confiscated Burr's cell phone.

We don't know a lot.

We just know that there was a warrant.

It was executed and the cell phone was seized.

Tim Mack is an investigative reporter at NPR.

And he has been following how Burr reached the point where his personal communications

were being seized.

This all revolves an investigation into alleged insider trading.

The allegations go something like this.

While Senator Burr was telling his constituents that the U.S. response to this novel coronavirus was under control,

he was actually selling more than a million dollars worth of stock, and he did it all just before the market crashed.

What are the challenges of investigating a senator like this?

...