Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled…

Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵

2/ Our story starts in 2019. Collins is at risk of losing her seat. A year earlier, she helped Navatek land a multimillion-dollar Navy contract in Maine. Scott Reed, head of the pro-Collins super PAC, meets with Navatek execs in a D.C. cafe and asks for a $500K donation.

3/ This is risky. Government contractors are banned from making political contributions. For the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery.

4/ To skirt campaign finance laws and conceal the source of the funds, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, sends an initial $150K to the pro-Collins super PAC (1820 PAC) using a shell company. Reed knows Kao is behind the donation. “Very smart,” he says in an email viewed by ProPublica.

5/ Kao wants assurance Collins would know he was behind it, and according to Kao, Reed confirms that she would. Seven days after the super PAC cashes the check, one of Reed’s subordinates emails a Navatek lobbyist: “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.”

6/ Weeks later, Kao tells his team Collins committed to getting the company $32M in naval contracts.

7/ But then, Kao got caught. The FBI had seen through his shell company ruse, and in 2022 a grand jury indicted him for making illegal campaign contributions. No one working for Collins was charged.

8/ Facing years in prison, Kao recounted the cafe meeting to the FBI in 2022, hoping to reduce his sentence by revealing the scheme. What he told them has never before become public.

9/ That cafe meeting, Kao asserted, was just one episode in a sprawling pay-to-play operation in Congress. He and his close associates donated nearly $900K to dozens of politicians, allowing Navatek to establish operations in half a dozen states with $40M+ a year in gov funds.

10/ Of all the politicians Navatek courted, Collins was its most important patron. At times, Kao and his associates cut checks to Collins’ campaign within 24 hours of the annual defense spending bill, which funds military contracts, clearing a key Senate hurdle.

11/ Even Navatek’s executives were surprised at how far their money went in D.C. “It was eye-opening for me, frankly. ‘Oh my God, all of it is for sale. It’s all for sale,’” former executive Eric Schiff said.

12/ Here’s a crazy part: Kao told the FBI that the company’s gov work was of no real value. Its research under his stewardship resulted in products Navatek knew the military would never buy, former employees said. One example: This 3D-printed boat Collins is posing with 👇

13/ By the end of 2024, FBI agents had enough evidence to pursue a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers of both political parties. They asked their supervisors to approve a new investigation. Then Trump returned to the White House.

14/ He eviscerated the specialized FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption investigations, some of which were involved in Trump-related cases. And the government stopped talking to an informant who had offered a road map to corruption in Congress.

15/ ProPublica is revealing the existence of the case for the first time. We reviewed a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI and thousands of pages of legal records, and have independently corroborated much of Kao’s account. This is the first piece of an ongoing series: propublica.org/article/fbi-su…

16/ Collins is once again fighting to keep her seat, in a race that could determine control of the Senate. We’re continuing to report. If you have information about political dealmaking in Washington, contact us on Signal at 917-512-0201. propublica.org/tips/

17/ Sign up for ProPublica's “Big Story” newsletter to get the rest of the stories in this series in your inbox: propublica.org/newsletters/th…

18/ The White House referred us to the FBI. A spokesperson said the FBI “ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins” or her campaign. The FBI did not address questions about the new phase of the inquiry prompted by Kao’s account.

19/ The FBI added that the Trump administration removed agents only “if they have been found to have acted unethically, undermined the mission, or engaged in weaponization of law enforcement.”

20/ Collins’ deputy chief of staff said that her office “vigorously” denies allegations of bribery and pay-for-play made by Kao, that Collins’ campaign was not part of the discussions between Kao and the super PAC, and that her office “fully cooperated” with the FBI.

21/ Reed did not respond to detailed questions. In an email, he wrote that he never communicated with Collins or her staff about Kao/Navatek. Navatek founder Steven Loui said Kao’s methods were “unethical and illegal” and that Navatek fully complied with law enforcement.