New ProPublica reporting tying Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to an alleged pay-to-play scheme with a defense contractor has "some meat on this bone."
During a Tuesday episode of her podcast, former prosecutor and journalist Katie Phang suggested that Collins is in real hot water even though the senator was never indicted and has denied being party to any such scheme.
"There's very, very little that gets my former prosecutor Spidey sense tingling as much as this new blockbuster reporting from ProPublica," Phang said.
According to ProPublica's reporting, Collins' top fundraiser, Scott Reed, met in late 2019 with three executives from Navatek, a Hawaii defense contractor Collins had helped land a "multi-million dollar Navy research contract" in Maine. Reed told them Collins was demanding a "$500,000 donation," Phang said.
Because government contractors can't make political contributions, then-CEO Martin Kao allegedly created a shell company to route $150,000 to Collins' super PAC, 1820 PAC, Phang explained.
"In exchange, Collins committed to giving the company 32 million in naval contracts according to an internal company email reviewed by ProPublica," Phang said.
The check came from an LLC called the Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers. Phang said the Campaign Legal Center noticed the name on the check was off by a single letter.
The group traced the money to Navatek's account. Kao, Reed, and super PAC lawyer Cleta Mitchell then went into "cover-up overdrive," with Mitchell urging the LLC to give scholarships "perhaps in Maine where the bad press was," Phang said.
"Kao and his team donated scholarships to women in STEM," Phang said. "But it was pretty obvious what was going on."
Collins' deputy chief of staff told ProPublica the campaign "disgorged the illegal contributions that Martin Kao had made without our knowledge." Phang wasn't persuaded.
"Number one, disgorging the illegal contributions doesn't absolve you of the original sin," she said.
Phang also pointed to an August 2019 Navatek fundraiser that pulled in more than $40,000 for Collins. Less than a month later, a Senate draft defense budget included "$21.5 million for Navatek's pet projects in Maine," Phang said. "It's pretty obvious on its face, right?"
Phang stressed the reporting names Democrats too.
"This is not a partisan thing," Phang said. "What is partisan though is the dismantling with intent by people like Kash Patel and Todd Blanche of the agencies, the levers that are supposed to exist in our federal government to be able to investigate and track down this corruption."
