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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/22\/us\/politics\/fbi-susan-collins-donor.html?emc=edit_na_20260923&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=226921",
    "parsed_content": "The Race for CongressPrimary Season TakeawaysVoting by MailLatest PollsCompetitive RacesSeat PickupsAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTF.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan CollinsThe inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor\u2019s account, according to current and former officials.Listen \u00b7 6:22 min Share full articleKash Patel, the F.B.I. director, fired many agents in a public corruption unit at the Washington field office that had handled the Kao investigation who had gone on to work for the special counsel Jack Smith.Credit...Tierney L. Cross\/The New York TimesBy Glenn ThrushAlan Feuer and Devlin BarrettSept. 22, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google 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 a defense contractor seeking lucrative federal contracts, current and former officials said.The bureau began investigating the matter under the Biden administration, after Martin Kao, the chief executive of Navatek, a military contractor in Hawaii, said he had discussed circumventing campaign finance laws with a political adviser to Ms. Collins, Republican of Maine. Mr. Kao is now serving an 87-month prison sentence for wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud, some of which related to a separate scheme to defraud the government of pandemic aid money.The inquiry, which was earlier reported by ProPublica, was closed under the Trump administration last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of Mr. Kao\u2019s account, which he began offering around the time he pleaded guilty in 2022.Current and former officials familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive inquiry, said agents did not uncover much evidence to corroborate Mr. Kao\u2019s claims against the senator and her advisers, including Scott Reed, a fund-raiser for Ms. Collins. But they acknowledged that it was possible more could have surfaced if the investigation had developed further.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe disclosure of the inquiry and its closing came in the final weeks of a midterm election in which Ms. Collins is in a tight race that could help decide control of the Senate. It prompted accusations that the F.B.I.\u2019s decision to shut down the investigation last year was influenced by political considerations \u2014 safeguarding a critical seat that could decide which party controls the Senate.On Capitol Hill, Ms. Collins pushed back against the article, calling it \u201ctruly outrageous.\u201d\u201cThese are seven-year-old allegations that were thoroughly investigated by the Biden Justice Department and F.B.I. And in 2021, the Biden Justice Department found there was no wrongdoing by any one on my campaign staff, my office or me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is clearly a political hit job.\u201d\u201cIt is very frustrating and unfair to have it brought up this close to the election,\u201d she added, noting that the man at the center of the accusations is a twice-convicted felon.\u201cHe is a liar and that is what he is doing here,\u201d she said.Annie Clark, Ms. Collins\u2019s deputy chief of staff, described the allegations against the senator and her advisers as \u201ccategorically false.\u201d In a lengthy social media post on Tuesday morning, she said that her campaign \u201ccooperated fully with the F.B.I. throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings.\u201d\u201cAs Martin Kao was awaiting sentencing, he began making outlandish charges about the Collins office, deflecting blame from himself and placing it on Senator Collins,\u201d she wrote, adding: \u201cThe FBI and the Court obviously did not believe Kao.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn an email to ProPublica, Ms. Clark added that the campaign ultimately returned the money. The committee sent the donations to a group that was rebuilding a school in Frenchville, Maine, that burned down in 2021, according to a person with knowledge of the move.Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. It's a pivotal moment for American politics. Join us for 2026 and beyond. Get it sent to your inbox.In President Trump\u2019s second term, the Justice Department has scuttled the main unit responsible for investigating public corruption, while dropping investigations against Republicans and Trump allies, including Eric Adams, the former mayor of New York.Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, also fired many agents in a public corruption unit at the Washington field office that had handled the Kao inquiry who had gone on to work for the special counsel Jack Smith, including one of the agents who had investigated Mr. Kao.Ms. Collins, a moderate, is not close to Mr. Trump and has often sought to distance herself from some of his policies.Mr. Kao told investigators that executives with his company had met in 2019 with Mr. Reed, who asked them for a large donation even though federal law prohibits direct contributions from federal contractors, according to ProPublica\u2019s account, which was later confirmed by two former officials.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Kao said he was willing to do so provided Ms. Collins\u2019s team could ensure the company received millions in naval contracts in Maine. As a workaround, Mr. Kao created a shell company and sent a $150,000 check to a super PAC associated with Ms. Collins, ProPublica reported.Around the same time, Navatek received an $8 million contract for a boat hull research project. Ms. Collins visited the company\u2019s offices in Maine to celebrate the deal, posting a photograph of herself on Facebook holding a model boat and standing next to Mr. Kao.Ms. Collins, 73, faces what is arguably the toughest re-election campaign of her three-decade career as a Republican representing a blue state.Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, the former speaker of Maine\u2019s State Senate, seized on the disclosure of the F.B.I. investigation to accuse Ms. Collins of corruption and to cast Mr. Trump as her political wingman.\u201cSusan Collins delivered millions in taxpayer dollars for a corrupt donor bankrolling her campaign, and then Donald Trump helped her cover it up,\u201d he said in a fund-raising email sent on Tuesday.Ben Williamson, a spokesman for the bureau, said it had investigated claims against Ms. Collins and \u201cfound nothing\u201d indicating that the senator or her campaign had done anything illegal. \u201cAny suggestion otherwise is totally false.\u201dCarl Hulse contributed reporting.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-22T19:24:53+00:00",
    "author_name": "Glenn Thrush, Alan Feuer, Devlin Barrett",
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