In WIVB interview, Collins says he will cooperate with ballot process

That's what Collins had to say in his first interview since he suspended his campaign Aug. 11, which aired on WIVB-TV on Monday.

For the first time, Collins acknowledged that he would run for another, lesser office if Republican leaders can find one for him – a move that's likely the only legal way to get the indicted lawmaker off the ballot before the Nov. 6 election.

"As I understand it, they would find another spot for me to run, at which point I would decline my spot on the congressional ballot," Collins told WIVB's Dave Greber. "And that's what they're working through. As I understand, it's never been done before, so they're looking at the legal aspects of it. As I've said, I'm going to cooperate fully."

In the interview, Collins also insisted he is innocent of the felony insider-trading charges federal prosecutors filed against him in Manhattan Aug. 8.

"I am innocent and I'm going to fight this right to the end in court and I will be exonerated," Collins said.

Collins faces charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and lying to a federal agent in connection with his involvement with Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech firm where he served as a director and the largest investor. His son, Cameron, faces similar charges, as does Stephen Zarsky of New Jersey, the father of Cameron Collins' fiancee.

Prosecutors accused the congressman of hatching an insider stock trading scheme from his cellphone while attending a White House picnic in late June 2017. They say he received an email that night from Innate's chief executive officer, telling him the firm's experimental multiple sclerosis drug had failed in clinical trials.

Collins then called his son, who started dumping his Innate shares the next day, while spreading the inside news that the company's only product — and now the company itself — were suddenly nearly worthless, prosecutors said.

The congressman refused to answer a question from WIVB, asking if he had shared insider information with his son, instead just reiterating his innocence.

But Collins confirmed he rejected the plea deal prosecutors offered to him, which The Buffalo News reported last month.

"That was disclosed," Collins said. "I don't even want to get into that."

Collins at first vowed to run for re-election, but three days later he reversed himself. He told WIVB he did that for family reasons.

"We got together and at that point in time there was no question that I needed to remove the spotlight from my family as best I could," he said. "While I'm innocent, I needed to look out for my family, so I did suspend my campaign. That's the right decision."

The initial WIVB reports, based on an interview with Collins that lasted nearly an hour, left several questions unanswered.

While Collins said he expects to leave Congress when his third term ends Dec. 31, the news report did not address what he would do if he cannot be removed from the ballot and gets re-elected. That's a distinct possibility in New York's heavily Republican 27th District, where he faces a challenge from Democrat Nathan McMurray, the Grand Island town supervisor.

The Collins interview left McMurray unimpressed.

“Tonight voters heard from a man who has lost the public trust," McMurray said. "Congressman Collins played the victim, has refused to resign from Congress and tonight expressed surprise that the rules do, in fact, apply to him."

On top of that, McMurray said, "Mr. Collins is willing to be a sham candidate, willing to dupe voters by running for whatever position these kingmaking ‘powers that be’ can manipulate the easiest."

While McMurray criticized the interview, the imagery in the television report was not especially flattering to Collins.

Federal agents found Collins in his bathrobe when they knocked on his door at 6 a.m. April 25 to ask him about allegations that resulted in the criminal insider trading charges filed against him last month, the congressman acknowledged.

"That was the shock of all shocks – to have two agents at your door at 6 a.m., saying they just want to talk," Collins said in the interview. "It turns out they don't read you your rights, they don't tell you you can have an attorney, they don't tell you why they're there. It's just: 'Oh, we'd like to talk.' And the next thing you know, you're innocent,  you invite them in.  You're in a bathrobe, bare feet, you just got out of bed."

Collins said he chatted with the federal agents for about 45 minutes as they asked him questions about his involvement with Innate.

"I shared everything from A to Z," Collins said in the interview. "And then at the end of it all they said: 'Oh, by the way, we have a subpoena for you.' "