Collins' case warrants our attention for several reasons. One is that he was the very first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump early in the 2016 primary season.
Trump rewarded him for that once he became President with regular phone calls and visits to the White House. Collins in turn rewarded Trump for that loyalty by loudly denouncing Robert Mueller's criminal investigation of Trump and his circle and demanded that it end (details here).
So summarize, Collins in a raging hypocrite.
Given that federal prosecutors have a track record of 97 percent convictions in cases brought to trial and given the overwhelming evidence against Collins, which is far greater than in most insider trading prosecutions, the congressman should prepare to put his affairs in order. This almost certainly will not end well for him. As one of the wealthiest members of Congress, that lad is in for a bit of a humbling. Even a minimum security federal prison is humiliating.
At least five other sitting Republican members of Congress also owned the same stock which became the subject of Collins' indictment. It remains to be seen if he communicated anything to them, whether they acted accordingly, and if they will be facing down indictments, too.
Notwithstanding the closeness between Trump and Collins, it shows how the criminal justice system in the United States is largely divorced from politics and politicians, as it should be. Collins was indicted by a U.S. Attorney whom Trump nominated but who is putting the law and the American people above party, as he should.
As Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Now it appears Congressman Collins has reached the end of his arc. May that come soon for Donald Trump, too.
And in the total coincidence department, Richard Nixon resigned 44 years go yesterday, more than two years after the Watergate story first broke.
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