Shock reverberated online following revelations that a defense contractor's confessed pay-to-play scheme implicating Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and potentially other members of Congress that triggered an FBI bribery investigation, was later dismantled following President Donald Trump's return to office.
ProPublica reported that Martin Kao, former CEO of the Hawaii-based defense firm Navatek, spent three days in 2022 telling FBI agents and federal prosecutors that his company had systematically traded campaign donations for congressional appropriations, naming dozens of lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists in a 50-page document.
At the time, Kao was facing years in prison after pleading guilty that same year to campaign finance and fraud charges.
According to internal emails reviewed by ProPublica, Navatek's relationship with Collins was central to the scheme. After a 2019 meeting at a Washington coffee shop in which Kao's company funneled a $150,000 donation to Collins' super PAC through a shell company, Kao told colleagues Collins had committed to securing Navatek $32 million in naval contracts. Kao told the FBI that Collins, at a company event that year, told him, "You've seen me deliver."
Collins' office has denied any wrongdoing, telling ProPublica the allegations are "outlandish" and that her campaign disgorged Kao's illegal contributions once they came to light in 2020.
By late 2024, FBI agents Michelle Ball and Kevin Gounaud had gathered enough evidence to seek approval for a broader bribery investigation, including new scrutiny of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over a dinner with Kao.
But after Trump returned to office, his administration gutted the FBI's public corruption unit and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, pushing out agents involved in previous Trump-related investigations.
Ball was fired for her role in the special counsel probe of Trump's 2020 election challenge, and Gounaud was forced out in early 2026.
The investigation is now dead, and prosecutors are no longer in contact with Kao, ProPublica reports.
Social media users reacted to the reporting with shock and outrage, and some wondered what would be the next shoe to drop.
"'This is the first in a series of stories drawn from our reporting,'" intoned Maggie McComb, a communications staffer for Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), quoting from the report.
"Collins sold out the voters of Maine for her own power, and Trump covered it up for her," observed Luke Martin of Impact Research. "This is just blatant corruption and absolutely disqualifying for Collins."
"Yow, not what you want breaking in the autumn of your re-elect campaign," cringed journalist Dan Rosenheck.
"This is a September Surprise," agreed Daily Kos' Emily C. Singer.
"Susan Collins, call your office (and a lawyer)," warned Democratic operative Josh Dorner.
"In every poll, DC corruption ranks as a top issue on the minds of voters," noted former Pentagon spokesman Chris Meagher. "This bombshell story about Susan Collins is exactly what they’re talking about and exactly what people are ready to vote out of office in 42 days."
"Maine’s largest paper is all over the Collins grift. She gone," predicted investor Tom Hearden.
"Republican Susan Collins is a criminal who can be bought for peanuts," accused writer A.G. Pasquella.