Rep. Chris Collins suspends re-election campaign days after arrest on insider trading charges

Show Caption Hide Caption GOP Congressman Chris Collins charged with insider trading Rep. Chris Collins, a Republican from western New York was arrested on charges of insider trading. U.S. Attorney Geoff Berman says he tipped family and friends off from information he gleaned from sitting on the board of a pharmaceutical company. (Aug. 8)

Rep. Chris Collins, the New York Republican congressman who is charged with insider trading, said Saturday he is suspending his re-election bid to keep Democrats from electing a pro-impeachment candidate in the district.

While noting in his statement on Twitter that he is suspending his campaign, he made it clear that he was in effect dropping out of the race in New York's 27th Congressional District.

Under New York law, a candidate's name cannot be replaced on a ballot this close to the election unless he or she dies, moves out of the state or is nominated for another office.

Collins, who has held the upstate New York seat since 2012, said Democrats are "laser focused" on taking back the House and launching impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

"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" he tweeted Saturday.

He said he will "fill out the remaining few months" of his term to support Trump's agenda. Collins was the first member of the House to back Trump in the 2016 election and seconded his presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention.

Bill Reilich, chairman of the Monroe County GOP said county leaders in the district are evaluating “several highly qualified individuals” who could be their pick as a replacement candidate.

To comply with state law to remove Collins from the ballot, he could be, for example, nominated to a town clerk position in his district, which wouldn’t necessarily require him to live within the town. And he would likely be nominated on a third-party line to reduce his chances of winning a position he doesn’t want to hold.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Saturday that Collins' announcement was "insufficient and overdue" and said House Speaker Paul Ryan must call on him to resign.

"No person is above the law, not the President or his sfirst supporter in Congress," Pelosi said in a statement.

Collins was arrested Wednesday morning after a federal grand jury indicted him on insider trading charges as well as lying to federal agents.

In his statement, Collins said he would "continue to fight the meritless charges" and looks forward to clearing his name of wrongdoing.

Collins and his co-defendants surrendered to authorities Wednesday morning in Manhattan, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New York’s Southern District.

All three pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned in federal court, with bail for each set at $500,000. The judge set a return date of Oct. 11 for a status hearing.

Collins addressed the media later Wednesday in a seven-minute statement after which he didn't take any questions. He said he hasn't violated ethical guidelines with his personal investments and also vowed to remain on the ballot for re-election in New York's 27th Congressional District in November.

A federal indictment charges Collins, his son Cameron and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron's fiancée, with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and seven counts of securities fraud.

Rep. Collins is also charged with making false statements to the FBI.

More: Along with Rep. Chris Collins, here are other lawmakers indicted while in office

More: Rep. Chris Collins: Here's what you need to know about the fraud charges he faces

Specifically, Rep. Collins is accused of receiving inside information about negative clinical trial tests conducted by Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company with which he has long been associated.

He then is accused of passing that information on to his son, prompting the son and others to sell 1.78 million Innate shares shortly before the bad news was made public in June 2017 and the share price plummeted.

Those others included Cameron Collins' fiancée, Lauren Zarsky, her mother, Dorothy, and other friends and family members.

They avoided losses of $768,600, according to the complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contributing: Sean Lahman and Will Cleveland, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle