Burr takes heat for ATM comment

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- When the banking crisis hit America last fall, many people resisted making a run on the banks.

But North Carolina Senator Richard Burr of Winston-Salem was not one of them. He's told people that he instructed his wife to withdraw as much cash as possible from bank ATMs.

He used the anecdote again in a speech Monday, but this time the message rippled across the political world. It's turning heads and making headlines.

Eyewitness News spoke with Burr Thursday, and he said the comment was misconstrued. He reacted to his Democratic critics and says he meant what he said 6 months ago, but times have changed.

"That was done long ago. That part of the economic crisis is over. And it was I think helpful. I think to people who heard me speak to give them a firsthand understanding of my frame of mind in that early week," he said.

Democrats have called his continued solution to the economic crisis disgraceful.

"If this is Senator Burr's economic recovery plan for himself, it is no surprise he doesn't have one for the country," the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said in a statement Thursday.

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