Chris Collins resigns from Congress, to plead guilty in insider trading case

A federal judge in Manhattan has scheduled a hearing Tuesday afternoon for Chris Collins, the Western New York congressman who isexpected toenter a guilty plea in a case initially brought last year.

Collins has submitted his resignation, which will take effect when Congress meets in a brief session on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Collins, 69, was indicted for insider trading in connection with the securities of Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd.

The indictment had also charged Collins's son, Cameron Collins, as well as Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins's fiance.

Similar hearings are scheduled for later in the week forCameron Collins and Zarsky.

Collins has served in the House since 2012 representing a section of the state betweenBuffalo and Rochester, andwas one of the first members of Congress in 2016 to officially endorse Donald Trump for president.

It is alleged in the indictment that the congressman, who served on the board of Innate and held 16 per cent of its stock, revealed to his son on June 22, 2017, the results of clinical trials involving an experimental multiple sclerosis drug in a flurry of phone calls, just minutes after being apprised of the trial results from Innate's CEO.

The trial results were made public a week later, with Innate stock losing 92 per cent of its value in off-exchange trading.

At the time of the indictment, Collins called the charges "meritless," while his spokesperson, echoing Trump's language, called the investigation "a partisan witch hunt."

He has continued to support Trump vociferously, releasing a statement last week in which he criticized the Democrats for "rushing to judgment to satisfy their radical base" in light of their push toward an impeachment inquiry into the administration's interactions with Ukraine officials.

Re-electeddespite indictment

Republican leadership in the House removed him from sitting in on their energy and commerce committee after the indictment.

Collins still won re-election in the 2018 midterms by 0.3 per cent over his opponent Nate McMurray despite the indictment as well as a heavily criticized campaign ad that painted McMurray as in favour of sending U.S. jobs to Asia; McMurray's wife is Korean.

With his departure from Congress, it will be up to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to set a special election to fill the seat, which has been held by a Republican for 27 of the past 35 years.

The Republicans, who lost control of the House in the midterms last year, are seeing several other veteran members of the chamber declare they won't run for office again in 2020.

Mac Thornberry, Texas congressman and a former chairman of the House armed services committee, on Monday became the 19thHouse Republican to announce their intention to leave Congress. That includes two members who have resigned and are already gone.

Duncan Hunter of California, another Trump loyalist, also faces indictment over allegations that campaign funds were used for personal use.

Hunter has maintained his innocence despite the fact his wife, also charged in the case, eventually agreed to plead guilty to violating campaign finance laws.