New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins, who was arrested on insider trading charges this week, is suspending his re-election bid, he announced on Saturday.
In a lengthy statement posted on Twitter, Collins said he had decided that it is in the “best interests” of his constituents in New York’s 27th District, the Republican Party, and the president’s agenda for him to suspend his campaign.
“Democrats are laser focused on taking back the House, electing Nancy Pelosi Speaker and then launching impeachment proceedings against President Trump,” Collins said. “They would like nothing more than to elect an ‘Impeach Trump’ Democrat in this District, which is something that neither our country or my party can afford.”
Collins, his son Cameron Collins, and the father of his son’s fiancée, Stephen Zarsky, were arrested by FBI agents early Wednesday morning on charges that Collins shared non-public information about Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics in the summer of 2017. Collins was a major shareholder of the company and a member of its board. According to the federal government’s indictment, Collins told his son about negative results from a clinical trial for the company’s multiple sclerosis drug before they were made public, allowing his family members to avoid nearly $800,000 in potential losses.
“Collins, who, by virtue of his office, helps write the laws of this country, acted as if the law did not apply to him,” US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at a news conference discussing the indictment, which charges Collins, his son, and Zarsky with 13 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, and making false statements to the FBI.
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05.19.2025