Republican Congressman Pleads Guilty

NEW YORK (AP) – Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins has pleaded guilty in an insider trading case, a day after he resigned from Congress.  The Republican from western New York entered the plea on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. He had been accused of leaking confidential information about a biopharmaceutical company to his son while attending a White House picnic in 2017.   The information allowed the son and another man to dump their stock in the company and avoid nearly $800,000 in losses.  The U.S. House made Collins’ resignation official Tuesday morning. It’s now up to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to set a special election to fill the seat in the Republican-leaning district.  The 69-year-old Collins was among the first members of Congress to support President Donald Trump’s run for the White House.