Collins rips report on pay-for-play allegations: ‘Partisan hit job’
ProPublica says FBI agents had enough evidence by 2024 to consider a bribery probe, but the inquiry stalled after Trump administration changes.
- On Tuesday, ProPublica published a report alleging Republican Senator Susan Collins engaged in a "pay-to-play" scheme with defense contractor Martin Kao, who allegedly funneled campaign contributions in exchange for federal contracts.
- Kao alleged he sent $150,000 to a Collins-aligned super PAC through a shell company and later received $32 million in naval contracts, leveraging Collins' position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to steer federal funding to his company.
- Federal investigators probed Collins' campaign finances between 2020 and 2025, but the inquiry stalled after President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025 when the administration dismantled anti-corruption units assigned to the case.
- Annie Clark, Collins' deputy chief of staff, called the allegations "categorically false" and stated the campaign was never an FBI target; an FBI spokesperson told ProPublica the bureau found no evidence implicating the senator.
- With the election six weeks away, Democratic challenger Troy Jackson called the allegations "corruption of the highest order," while strategists warn the report could undermine Collins' reputation as an independent voice in the tightly contested Maine race.
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99 Articles
FBI Probe Allegations Shake Susan Collins's Senate Reelection Bid In Maine
A ProPublica investigation has thrust Senator Susan Collins into controversy just six weeks before the 2026 midterm elections, threatening her decades-long political standing in Maine. The report alleges Collins was linked to a pay-for-play scheme involving a Hawaii-based defense contractor that donated nearly $1 million to dozens of lawmakers in exchange for federal contracts. The […]
For the Left, there Is no Republican too moderate to target with...
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has earned a reputation as one of the Senate's most bipartisan and moderate members. But not even that willingness to work across the aisle spared the longtime senator from being ensnared by the left's lawfare machine. Leftist propaganda outlet ProPublica dropped a hit piece on Tuesday suggesting Collins and her 2020 Senate campaign were caught up in a Biden-era FBI investigation that probed allegations of a pay-to-p…
"Absolutely False" - Susan Collins Responds to Pro Publica Allegations in MWTV Exclusive: Watch
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R) responded Friday to allegations published by the left-wing Pro Publica outlet that she and her staff conspired with a convicted fraudster to direct defense spending in exchange for campaign contributions. [RELATED: Liberal Website Revives Collins Allegations Weeks Before Election Day; FBI Dropped Case Under Joe Biden…] Watch Steve Robinson’s interview [...]
Susan Collins’s Flimsy Corruption Defense Collapses
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, trying to refute corruption allegations, may have just proven them. Earlier this week, ProPublica exposed Collins’s involvement in an alleged illegal pay-to-pay scheme with a defense contractor. Collins has denied the allegations.“The Biden-led Justice Department and FBI totally cleared my office, my campaign and me five years ago of these seven-year-old allegations,” Collins told The Wall Street Journa…
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