Feds: Dem. Calif. pol Leland Yee schemed to trade arms for campaign cash

San Francisco (CNN) - Leland Yee needed cash.

First, the ambitious California state senator had to fund his 2011 race for mayor of San Francisco. When he came in fifth, he was stuck with $70,000 in campaign debt that he had to retire before he could mount his next run, for secretary of state - a costly statewide venture.

And that's how prosecutors say Yee ended up sitting across from an undercover federal agent in a coffee shop in early March, brokering what he was told was a $2 million arms deal that would include the purchase of shoulder-fired missiles from Islamic rebels in the Philippines.

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