Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) “angrily” lashed out Tuesday at new reporting that exposed an alleged campaign cash bribery scheme involving her office, denying the underlying allegations while also blaming the report on one of her own Senate colleagues, Punchbowl News reported.
As revealed in a bombshell report published Tuesday by ProPublica, Collins’ office was alleged by Martin Kao — a former defense contractor currently serving an 87-month sentence for money laundering and bank fraud — to have helped steer millions of tax dollars into his company, Navatek, in exchange for illegal campaign contributions funneled through a shell company. Collins’ office has fiercely denied any wrongdoing.
“This was investigated by the Biden Justice Department and the FBI,” Collins told reporters coming off the Senate floor Tuesday evening, Punchbowl News reported. “In 2021, the Biden Justice Department found there was no wrongdoing by anyone on my campaign staff, my office or me. This is absolutely outrageous. It’s clearly a political hit job.”
The Justice Department probe into the alleged scheme was shuttered after President Donald Trump retook the White House, ProPublica reported, with multiple former officials telling the outlet that the second Trump administration no longer took public corruption seriously in any meaningful fashion.
Rather than just deny the allegations, however, Collins also moved to suggest the report was the doing of one of her Senate colleagues: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“It’s obvious if you look at ProPublica,” Collins said. “It’s obvious if you look at the tactics that Chuck Schumer always uses.”
Despite having maintained “good relationships with a number of Senate Democrats,” Politico previously noted, Collins has had an especially tense relationship with Schumer for years, with the outlet describing it as “frostier than ever” in 2021.
