Sen. Susan Collins is pushing back hard against a ProPublica investigation alleging a convicted defense contractor funneled $150,000 to a super PAC supporting her 2020 re-election, calling it a politically motivated "smear job" timed to damage her in a competitive Maine Senate race.
Collins went on offense almost immediately after the report surfaced, sitting for interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Punchbowl News to challenge the credibility of the man at the center of the story: Martin Kao, a former defense contractor CEO convicted twice in separate federal cases on five counts of money laundering, bank fraud, and making false submissions to the Federal Election Commission.
Kao told the FBI that his company routed $150,000 through a shell company he established to a super PAC backing Collins during the 2020 cycle. Federal contractors are barred by law from donating directly to political campaigns. Kao described the arrangement as part of a broader pay-to-play operation involving political contributions and government contracts, Fox News Digital reported.
Collins did not mince words about the source of the allegations. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel, she laid out her case plainly:
"I've got to say, I do not understand how anyone would take the word of a felon who's been convicted twice, twice, two separate cases, of five counts of money laundering, counts of bank fraud, false submissions to the FEC. He is a convicted liar."
That framing, a convicted liar making accusations while facing prison time, is the spine of Collins' defense. And it raises a fair question that anyone reading the ProPublica report should weigh: how much credibility does a man with two federal fraud convictions deserve when he has every incentive to cooperate with investigators?
Kao spent years cooperating with federal agents, detailing his dealings with Collins and other unnamed lawmakers. He had a powerful motive: he was facing years in prison and hoped his cooperation would earn him a lighter sentence. The judge ultimately gave him no leniency for it.
That detail matters. A cooperating witness who delivers goods useful enough to merit a sentencing break usually gets one. Kao did not. Whether that reflects on the quality of his information or on other factors in his case, the Step 1 material does not say. But Collins' argument that Kao is a "convicted liar" with a self-serving motive to embellish is not a frivolous point, it is a factual one.
ProPublica's investigation goes further than Kao's word alone, however. The outlet obtained emails it says show Scott Reed, the head of the super PAC backing Collins, was aware that Kao had used a shell company to mask his illegal donation. ProPublica also obtained a 2019 email from a naval officer showing Collins advocated on behalf of Navatek, the defense contractor Kao was running at the time. That email was sent months before Kao allegedly routed his donation to the super PAC.
The Maine Senate race has already drawn national attention, with even Joe Manchin crossing party lines to back Collins. The bribery allegations land in the middle of that contest, and Collins clearly views the timing as no accident.
Collins leaned heavily on the fact that the FBI already investigated these claims and came up empty. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson confirmed as much to ProPublica, stating the agency had looked into allegations against Collins years ago:
"and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins' campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false."
Collins echoed that clearance in her own terms, saying the "Biden-led" Justice Department and FBI "totally cleared my office, my campaign and me five years ago of these 7-year-old allegations."
But ProPublica reported that a new phase of the federal investigation was launched in 2024, after Kao's extended cooperation with agents. The FBI did not respond to ProPublica's questions about whether that new investigation exists or what its scope might be. Collins did not directly address the 2024 probe in her public statements.
That gap is worth noting. Collins' defense rests on the prior clearance. If a new and separate investigation has been opened based on additional evidence gathered during Kao's cooperation, the prior clearance does not automatically cover the new ground. Whether the 2024 investigation amounts to anything remains unknown, the FBI's silence on the matter leaves it unresolved.
In her interview with Punchbowl News, Collins called the ProPublica report a "political hit job" and pointed the finger at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, framing the story as part of a broader Democratic effort to undermine her re-election.
She expanded on that theme in another interview, making her frustration personal:
"This is a smear job. And as someone who has always prided herself on serving with integrity, it really offends me. And I'm offended for my staff too, both on the campaign and in the personal office."
Collins' office did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment on Wednesday.
The senator's instinct to frame this as a partisan operation is consistent with how she has handled past Democratic attacks. Democrats have previously seized on Collins' Kavanaugh vote as a weapon in the Maine race, and Collins has shown she is willing to fight back publicly rather than absorb the hits in silence.
Her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, has not been quoted on the ProPublica report in the available material. But the race itself has been marked by sharp exchanges. Collins has previously delivered pointed remarks about Jackson's personal life and temperament, and Jackson has faced his own scrutiny, including a resurfaced 1988 assault report that Collins highlighted on the campaign trail.
Strip away the political noise and here is what the available reporting establishes. Kao, a twice-convicted fraudster, told the FBI he funneled $150,000 through a shell company to a pro-Collins super PAC. ProPublica obtained emails it says show the super PAC's head, Scott Reed, knew about the shell company arrangement. A 2019 email shows Collins advocated for Kao's defense contracting firm months before the alleged donation.
On the other side of the ledger: the FBI investigated and found nothing implicating Collins or her campaign. Collins was not charged. No formal consequences against her are stated anywhere in the reporting. Kao's credibility is, by any fair measure, deeply compromised, the man was convicted of lying to the very federal agencies whose investigators he later tried to help.
The open questions are significant. What exactly did Collins do on behalf of Navatek? What did Scott Reed know, and when? Does the reported 2024 investigation target Collins, or is it broader? The FBI's refusal to confirm or deny the new probe leaves these questions hanging.
Collins is right that the source of these allegations is a convicted liar with every reason to tell investigators what they wanted to hear. ProPublica is right that the documentary evidence, the emails, the campaign finance records, the timeline, exists independent of Kao's word.
Both things can be true. And voters in Maine deserve to know which one matters more before they cast their ballots.
When the accuser is a twice-convicted fraudster and the timing lines up with an election, healthy skepticism is not partisanship, it is common sense. Collins has earned the right to be judged on the evidence, not the allegation.
