Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson launched a scathing attack on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Wednesday, accusing her of corruption after a ProPublica investigation detailed how she allegedly directed millions in federal defense contracts to a company whose executives bankrolled her super PAC.
“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,” Jackson said in a statement. “No wonder she voted with him 96% of the time and has rubberstamped his agenda to hurt Maine.”
Jackson demanded full transparency, saying, “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’s Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Clark fired back on X, calling the report “categorically false.” Clark said the Collins campaign “cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation” during the Biden administration and provided all documents and fact witnesses in official settings.
“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,” Clark wrote. “These issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.”
The ProPublica report centers on a pay-to-play scheme orchestrated by executives at Hawaii-based defense contractor Navatek and its former CEO Martin Kao, who is currently serving federal prison time for COVID-relief wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud.
According to the report, Collins, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, steered contracts worth millions to Navatek. It cites meetings between Scott Reed, who heads a Collins super PAC, and Navatek executives at a Corner Bakery where Reed solicited payments from the company.
In one instance, Kao allegedly funneled $150,000 to Collins’s super PAC through a shell company, and two months later told Navatek executives that Collins would deliver $32 million in naval contracts to the firm.
When Kao was arrested, he cooperated with the FBI and the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, which was prepared to pursue the case further until President Trump took office in 2025. ProPublica reported that the team handling Kao’s case either left or was fired from the agencies due to past investigations into Trump.
Collins’s office and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.
The allegations add a new layer of controversy to one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Jackson, a longtime state senator, is seeking to unseat Collins, who has held the seat since 1997. The report also raises questions about the intersection of campaign finance and defense contracting, a topic that has drawn increased scrutiny amid broader debates over federal oversight. For instance, recent polling shows that a majority of Americans believe tech firms fall short on safety, reflecting a public appetite for stronger accountability. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s combative stance toward the press—seen in clashes with CNN—suggests that the White House may not welcome further scrutiny of the Navatek affair.
As the race heats up, Jackson’s campaign is likely to seize on the ProPublica findings to paint Collins as beholden to special interests. Collins’s team, meanwhile, is banking on the FBI’s closed investigation to blunt the attack. With control of the Senate hanging in the balance, the Maine contest could hinge on whether voters see the Navatek report as a smoking gun or a politically motivated smear.
