i will answer precisely. reporter: for several years row the coalition spokesman for the saudi led war in yemen. he had huge exposure and became a local celebrity in saudi arabia. his fame, coupled to his robust defense of saudi interests, earned him the attention of architect of that war, mohammad bin salman, known as mbs. a general in the air defense are corps, he got a second start and according to a source, sought close ties to salman during his rapid rise to crown prince. it paid off, he was made deputy intelligence chief in 2017. according to the source, he took over after the previous incumbent retired following a botched so-called rendition of a suspect from china. a serious ambition that carried
saudi spending on lobbying in the united states, $10 million in 2016, jumped to $27 million in 2017. according to foreign influence transparency initiative, in 2017 saudi lobbyists contacted more than 200 members of congress including literally every senator. so the saudis are spreading a lot of money around in washington. absolutely. i think it s worth looking at the president s family, specifically jared. there was a report that mbs, the crown prince, was meeting regularly with jared and saw that he had jared in his pocket. jared kushner is vastly overspent on some of his new york real estate properties. he s been looking for money. there s been lots of saudi money going into operations such as this like soft bank which is a
2017. according to sworn testimony from jerry jones, the president in a private conversation had told him that the issue was, quote, a very winning, strong issue for him. adding this one lifts me. but critics cry it lifts up bigotry, as well. our commander in chief is, in fact, the racial opportunist in chief in this country. reporter: all this as we approach the one-year anniversary of the unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia. after which the president failed to denounce its racist attendies clearly, decisively and without any moral equivalency. i think there s blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it. reporter: critics and many prominent african-americans say hateful,eratef frhetoric.
the courthouse in new york. brian. all three men wells his son s fiance s father they were here set $500,000 is bail set for each of the men. they have all been ordered to hand over their travel documents including congressman collins who has been ordered to hand over his diplomatic passport. now, this all began in june of 2017. according to the indictment, that is when chris collins was at a congressional picnic at the white house. he received an email you from the ceo of this australian pharmaceutical company called innate. and in that email the ceo informed the board of directors that the new drug the company was banking on to treat a form of multiple sclerosis failed in its drug trials. so prosecutors say collins immediately, within minutes, called his son to give him this insider information illegally before that info went public. congressman collins
asked to turn in his passport and three men are facing federal charges for insider trading as well as lying to the fbi. it all goes back to june of 2017. according to prosecutors, collins was a member of the board of directors for an australian biotech company and received information the drug, the backbone of the company that was meant to be a cure for multiple sclerosis failed in its drug trials. that information was then given by the congressman to his son, his son gave it to seven others. they all sold their stock five days later. that information went public and the stock plummeted 92%. prosecutors say because of this insider trading information his family saved some $800,000. congressman collins had an