GOP Rep. Chris Collins suspends his campaign amid scandal

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last updated 12 August 2018

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) suspended his re-election campaign Saturday, four days after he was arrested by the FBI on insider trading charges.

"After extensive discussions with my family and friends over the last few days, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the constituents of NY-27, the Republican Party, and President Trump's agenda for me to suspend my campaign for re-election to Congress," Collins said in a statement. "I will also continue to fight the meritless charges against me and I look forward to having my good name cleared of any wrongdoing."

Collins was President Trump's first congressional endorser. He allegedly dumped stock in a drug company after privately learning, before the public found out, that its signature multiple sclerosis product did not work.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.