“I am deeply disgusted, though not surprised, that President Trump has yet again chosen to abuse his authority by granting a presidential pardon to another disgraced political ally. This time, former Congressman Chris Collins is among those benefitting from Trump’s latest act of charitable cronyism.

“Chris Collins deserves no clemency. He repeatedly thumbed his nose at the hardworking people of Western New York to serve his own self interests. He knowingly traded on insider information to save his already-rich family a few bucks. He broke the law on the White House lawn and then lied to the FBI to cover up his actions. He abused the trust placed in him by his constituents because, like so many disgraced politicians before him, he thought he was above the law. Collins then chose to run for re-election while under indictment, proclaiming his innocence and yet knowing full well that he was guilty. His later plea of guilty left his constituents without any voice in Congress for almost a year. His decision to run for re-election, despite his guilt, was as selfish and arrogant as his original crimes.

“Chris Collins earned his prison sentence. He was worth well over $13 million at the time that he committed these crimes, not even counting his baseball and coin collections, purportedly each worth over $1 million. In sharp contrast, most of the households in his district, which I share, earn less than $70,000 a year. Chris Collins probably could have simply sold a few coins from his collection to cover his family’s losses. Instead, he sold out his constituents.