Sen. Susan Collins’ Democratic critics have a handful of standard criticisms that have become staples of this year’s Senate race in Maine. The longtime Republican incumbent, they argue, votes with Donald Trump and the president’s party the vast majority of the time despite her claim of being a “moderate”; she’s responsible for the consequences of some of her worst votes (including the confirmation vote on Brett Kavanaugh); and she’s changed after having been in Congress for far too long.
As a rule, accusing Collins of being involved in corruption hasn’t been part of the Democratic script. It’s likely that will soon change.
ProPublica published a rather devastating new report on the Maine Republican’s political operation, which was worried about a possible defeat in 2020. To avoid that, Scott Reed, who led a Collins-aligned super PAC, launched an aggressive fundraising initiative. From the article:
Reed was meeting that day with three executives from a Hawaiian defense contractor, Navatek. A year earlier, Collins had helped their company land a multimillion-dollar Navy research contract in Maine. Now, seated at a coffee shop not far from the U.S. Capitol, Reed asked them for a $500,000 donation.
Government contractors are banned from making political contributions. More consequentially, for the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery. But the company did have such a proposal: Navatek was hungry for more government contracts in Maine. If they cut a big check, the CEO told Reed, Navatek wanted Collins to guarantee tens of millions of dollars in additional federal funding.
According to ProPublica’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, planned to funnel the Collins donation through a shell company, and Reed assured him that the senator would understand where the money came from.
“Two months later,” the article added, Reed “told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts, according to an internal company email reviewed by ProPublica.”
In 2022, the FBI secured an indictment against Kao, accusing him of making illegal campaign contributions. Kao came clean on all of the details surrounding the influence operation in the hope of getting a reduced sentence.
As recently as two years ago, FBI agents reportedly believed they had sufficient evidence to pursue what ProPublica described as “a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers of both political parties,” adding, “Although their effort was in its early stages, and it was unclear where it would lead, FBI agents asked Kao extensive questions about his dealings with Collins and her office.”
So why did nothing happen? Because Trump returned to the White House, and as part of his retaliatory revenge campaign, he and his team began to purge federal law enforcement, specifically targeting officials who had worked on cases the Republican president didn’t like.
The crusade left the FBI effectively unable to pursue public corruption cases, and the leads generated by Kao’s revelations withered on the vine.
The report quoted an FBI spokesperson saying the bureau had investigated claims against Collins “and ultimately found nothing implicating” the senator or her campaign. The senator’s office, meanwhile, “vigorously” denied allegations of wrongdoing and called Kao’s claims “outlandish.” The same denial added that Collins’ campaign was not part of the discussions between Kao and the super PAC, and her office had “fully cooperated” with the FBI investigation.
Collins’ deputy chief of staff also posted a lengthy statement via social that said in part, “There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation.”
And yet, with just six weeks remaining in the midterm election cycle and polls showing Collins trailing in a tough re-election race, it’s a safe bet that voters in Maine will be hearing a lot more about this very soon.
“This is corruption of the highest order,” Troy Jackson, the senator’s Democratic rival, said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “Susan Collins delivered millions in taxpayer dollars for a corrupt donor bankrolling her campaign, and then Donald Trump helped her cover it up. No wonder she voted with him 96% of the time and has rubberstamped his agenda to hurt Maine.”
Jackson’s statement concluded, “We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up.”
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