The culture of corruption got a new poster boy as GOP Rep. Chris Collins—the very first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump—was arrested this morning on charges of insider trading and lying to the FBI.
You may remember Collins from his blunt take on the quid-pro-quo basis of the $2 trillion GOP tax scam: “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’”
What you might not know: Collins might have also pocketed up to $446,500 from just one provision of the tax scam.
Apparently rigging a tax bill to give himself massive profits wasn’t enough for Collins: he also gave his son nonpublic stock tips about a company whose board the elder Collins sat on, and whose stock was about to tumble due to a failed drug trial.
The younger Collins shared the information, and the defendants allegedly avoided a combined $768,000 in losses, according to the prosecutors on the case. Then, Collins lied about it to the FBI.
The cherry on top: Collins found out about the stock tip during the Congressional picnic at the White House.
Collins previously defended this sort of behavior during the confirmation hearings of former HHS Secretary Tom Price, who was accused of inappropriate financial investments based on a stock tip Collins himself provided.
As CAP Action Executive Director Navin Nayak said earlier today:
“The real insider trading by Rep. Collins was the corrupt Republican tax bill that lavished benefits on Republican Members of Congress and their big corporate donors, while jacking up health care premiums on the middle class.”
PROOF DIDN’T MATTER TO TRUMP’S VOTER FRAUD COMMISSION.
New documents show that Trump’s sham voter fraud commission “intended to trumpet findings of voter fraud before it had found evidence to back up its claims.”
It’s common knowledge that Trump’s constant fear-mongering about systematic voter fraud is incorrect, and many were concerned that the Kris Kobach-led “Election Integrity Commission” was simply a vehicle to spread distrust and enhance the voter fraud myth.
Now, we know those fears were well-founded.
The documents include a draft of a report to be issued by the commission. The draft contained headings alleging improper voter registration practices and instances of fraudulent voting, but there was zero evidence to substantiate the claims.
TRUMP-RUSSIA UPDATE.
You probably saw a notification about the Mueller investigation today. Here’s the deal:
- Trump’s legal team, led by the publicity-hungry Rudy Giuliani, is trying desperately to forestall a meeting between the president and the Special Counsel, all while insisting that Mueller must wrap up his investigation in time for the midterms.
- Giuliani reiterated today his belief that an interview would be a perjury trap, which is basically a fancy way of saying he believes the president would almost certainly lie to Mueller to avoid revealing the truth about his campaign’s complicity in Russia’s unprecedented and unprovoked attack on American democracy.