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Susan Collins Was Target of FBI Bribery Probe
Records show agents prepared a bribery probe into Collins-linked donations and contracts before a Trump purge ended it.
- FBI agents sought to launch a sweeping bribery investigation into Senator Susan Collins in 2024 based on defense contractor Martin Kao's confession, but the probe halted after President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
- Facing years in prison, Kao began cooperating with FBI agents and prosecutors who prosecuted him, spending three days in Honolulu detailing how his operation worked and providing a 50-page document naming dozens of members of Congress involved in cash-for-contracts deals.
- In a 60-slide presentation, FBI agents highlighted donations Kao made to Collins in 2018 before she placed $8 million in research funding into the federal budget; Kao also sent around $33,000 through illegal straw donors in 2019.
- After Trump returned to the White House, he purged the Department of Justice and FBI; one agent who took Kao's confession was pushed out in October 2025 for investigating Trump's 2020 election efforts.
- The investigation sparked by Kao's revelations is dead, with dozens of agents and prosecutors quitting as the Public Integrity Section collapsed; Trump's Justice Department no longer pursues public corruption, according to former officials.
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'F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins' #ELB
N.Y. Times has its own story following upon Pro Publica’s report: ‘The F.B.I. in 2025 shut down an inquiry into allegations that a political adviser to Senator Susan Collins had participated in a scheme to funnel illegal campaign contributions from … Continue reading ‘F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins’ →
Liberal Website Revives Collins Allegations Weeks Before Election Day; FBI Dropped Case Under Joe Biden
A Hawaii defense contractor serving more than seven years for fraud has supplied the central accusations in a ProPublica story suggesting U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) steered defense contractors in return for donations to a political action committee. The story is based on claims made by Martin Kao, the former chief executive of Navatek, who [...]
·Portland, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources52
Leaning Left31Leaning Right6Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution66% Left
Bias Distribution
- 66% of the sources lean Left
66% Left
L 66%
C 21%
13%
Factuality
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