Documents obtained by ProPublica suggest the senator flexed her power to secure government contracts for donors

The FBI was quietly investigating a bipartisan group of over a dozen lawmakers — including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — in connection with a sprawling pay-for-contracts bribery scheme. Then the Trump administration gutted the FBI’s public corruption unit.

According to a Tuesday report from ProPublica, the probe stemmed from a tell-all cooperation agreement between Martin Kao — the former CEO of the military contractor Navatek — and federal agents. Kao was indicted in 2022 on charges of making illegal campaign contributions, and according to ProPublica, informed the FBI of a nearly $1 million quid-pro-quo scheme that involved dozens of lawmakers. 

According to emails obtained by ProBublica, Collins — who is embroiled in a critical campaign battle to keep her seat in the Senate — reportedly directed millions in federal contracts to Navatek, often through the invocation of her influential role on the Senate Appropriations Committee. According to Kao’s statements to federal agents, in 2019 Collins’ super PAC approached Navatek with a request for $500,000 dollars towards her reelection, citing her past help in securing them a Maine-based contract with the U.S. Navy during her last term. The ask was implicitly illegal, as government contractors are explicitly barred from making political donations. Kao reportedly told the head of the PAC that they would be interested … if the senator could help them secure additional contracts. 

Troves of emails obtained by ProPublica contain direct references to Collins’ alleged role in pushing Navatek to the Navy at the expense of a competitive bidding process. “I spoke with Sen. Collins office regarding the $8M,” one email from a Naval official, dated to 2019, said. “The interested company is Navatek.” 

Kao also told investigators that when he met face-to-face with Collins and two members of her campaign staff, the senator told him directly that he’d already seen her “deliver” for him and expected continued support. 

Shortly after, Navatek began funneling money towards Collins’ PAC through a network of shell companies. The company would go on to court other prominent members of Congress, particularly those on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, funneling donations to their respective campaigns and fundraising committees. 

Around the 2024 election, with Kao in hand and a trove of evidence to go off of, the FBI was in the throes of a major investigation into the extent of the influence peddling surrounding Navatek, and the potential for similar schemes. However, upon Trump’s election, federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Justice Department were put under the control of Trump’s allies and sycophants, and the Public Corruption unit within the bureau was gutted. 

According to ProPublica, one of the agents involved in interviewing Kao was fired over her role in investigating Trump’s 2020 election interference efforts, and an attorney assigned to the case resigned. The FBI — controlled by longtime Trump ally Kash Patel — told ProPublica the agency had “found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign.”

In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, Troy Jackson — Collins’ Democratic opponent in this years election — wrote that “this is corruption of the highest order.”

“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,” he added. “We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up.”

Collins’ office also denied any wrongdoing or impropriety by the senator, but if the paper trail and names hinted at by ProPublica is anything to go off, this is just the tip of the corruption iceberg.