https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/26/an-fbi-inquiry-complicates-susan-collinss-campaign-message-maine/BATH, Maine — For two decades, the sprawling warehouses and work yards of Bath Iron Works have served as the backdrop for Susan Collins’s political campaigns. Her message to voters: As Maine’s senior senator, she brings jobs and money to the people of Bath.This month, Collins appeared at that same shipyard, shaking hands with some of the 6,000 workers who assemble vessels for the U.S. Navy.Before she departed, a group of workers delivered her a letter, signed by over 100 employees, thanking her for her work in Washington. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she has helped secure more than $10 billion in Navy contracts for the yard since 2020, according to her office.Now, as Collins faces a tight reelection race against Democrat Troy Jackson, allegations involving a different defense contractor are putting her broader record of steering money to Maine under scrutiny and raising a politically charged question: Where does Collins’s aggressive advocacy on behalf of Mainers end and improper influence begin?This week, the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica disclosed that FBI agents had examined allegations that campaign contributions benefiting Collins were connected to federal contracts sought by a Hawaii-based defense company.
Three people familiar with the matter confirmed to The Washington Post that the FBI last year closed an early-stage inquiry into allegations that a defense contractor made concealed political contributions benefiting Collins in exchange for help securing federal contracts. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the previously undisclosed investigation.The inquiry grew out of statements by Martin Kao, former head of the Hawaii-based defense contractor, Navatek. Kao told investigators that he discussed a large political contribution with Scott Reed, the chairman of a super PAC supporting Collins, while Navatek was seeking millions of dollars in Navy contracts. Kao later pleaded guilty to using a shell company to make a $150,000 contribution to the super PAC and to arranging separate illegal contributions benefiting Collins’s campaign.ProPublica reported that Collins was aware of Kao’s contribution, based on an email between one of Reed’s subordinates and a Navatek lobbyist saying that “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.’”Kao made his allegations while seeking leniency in separate campaign finance and fraud cases, giving him an incentive to provide information that might be valuable to investigators. He was not granted a reduction in his sentence. Collins and her staff have vigorously denied allegations of bribery or pay-to-play, calling Kao’s account “outlandish.” Reed has said he never communicated with Collins or her staff about Kao or Navatek. Neither Collins nor anyone who worked for her was charged.In a statement, a spokesperson for the FBI said the bureau previously investigated the allegations reported by ProPublica and found nothing implicating Collins or her campaign.
Several agents handling the inquiry worked on a Washington-based public-corruption squad that FBI Director Kash Patel later dismantled, and some were pushed out after working on investigations involving President Donald Trump, according to the people familiar with the matter.The allegations do not involve Bath Iron Works or the federal contracts Collins helped secure for the shipyard.But the news, covered by several of Maine’s major news outlets, was front of mind Thursday for many in Bath, a quaint waterside city of just under 9,000 residents.“I hope it goes far and wide, and I hope that people understand what it’s really about,” said Bath resident Matthew Glassman, who was walking his dog by the red-brick bookstores and boutiques that line the city’s main commercial stretch.Glassman, a Jackson supporter who runs a local arts center in a former church, said he understood why neighbors who depended on the shipyard supported Collins. But he hoped the allegations would prompt them to look more critically at how she uses her influence in Washington.“If they can see that it’s not always done in virtuous ways, and not in ways that are in people’s best interests, then hopefully we can have a different senator while keeping that industry thriving,” Glassman said.Like much of coastal Maine, Bath has moved significantly toward Democrats in recent years — Kamala Harris won the township by 37 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election — but it retains strong pockets of support for Collins, thanks in large part to her support for BIW.“She’s done a lot to support the yard,” said Lorraine Beaulieu, a planner at BIW who has worked at the yard for 38 years. “That’s my livelihood, that’s how I raised my kids, that’s what gets us through — so that’s what I’m pushing for.”
Beaulieu, an officer with IAM Local S7, one of the unions representing BIW workers, said the workforce at the yard is divided between Collins and Jackson. Moments later, Anthony Leeman, the president of S7, walked down the street to the local’s office wearing his hard hat and work boots.“I’m supporting Troy Jackson,” said Leeman, who also serves as the president of the union’s state council. “If there’s any conflict between the locals and the company, she’ll choose the company’s side no matter what.”Neither Leeman nor Beaulieu had heard the new allegations reported by ProPublica. But Leeman said that much of the support for Collins in the union is driven by her past support for the shipyard, as well as by a general perception that Democrats are too radical on issues like gun control.“People don’t always understand what the fight really is. They think, ‘Oh, they’ll take my guns away,’” he said. Instead, he has been encouraging union members to think about the “three Gs” of affordability — gas, groceries and Grandma. “It’s more about: ‘What’s your paycheck? What’s your gas?’” he said.Among some voters in Bath, news of the allegations reinforced a general sense of disillusionment with both Collins and her opponent.“We all expect doctors to be God, and we all expect politicians to be honest and moral, and we’re stupid to think that about either profession,” said Alida Zimmerman, a retiree from nearby Waldoboro. “They’re all crooked.”Zimmerman said she was undecided about which candidate she would vote for, though she said she was leaning toward Collins, calling her a hardworking advocate for the state’s interests in Washington. Jackson, by contrast, seemed “a little slimy.”“I’m really not enthused about either one,” she concluded.
Other voters had not heard about the allegations and remained focused on more immediate financial pressures. Maryellen Spear, a 67-year-old part-time toy store employee, said neither Collins nor Jackson had offered a compelling answer to the rising cost of living.Spear said she sold her father’s cabin on nearby Popham Beach to help cover his health care costs. She later sold her own Bath home because she could no longer afford its property taxes and maintenance. She now lives in an apartment where the rent, she said, costs four times her former monthly mortgage payment.“I don’t want to have to work until I’m 80, but I might have to,” said Spear. “There’s not one, not a political person in this world, who’s going to [fix] that.”At 3:30 p.m. on the other side of town, the afternoon shift change at Bath Iron Works had just begun. Hundreds of workers streamed out of the shipyard’s gates, carrying their hard hats and coolers to idling buses and nearby cars. Members of the incoming shift, nursing cups of coffee and cigarettes, swam upstream against the crush of departing workers.Laurie, a 38-year electrician at the yard, headed toward a dusty parking lot. She was planning to vote for Collins. “She’s pretty powerful when it comes to the defense spending aspect of it,” said Laurie, who declined to give her last name out of fear of professional reprisal. “I just don’t see any of the other candidates having that kind of influence.”
But back in downtown Bath, Mal Carey, a former electrician and draftsman at BIW, wasn’t so sure that Collins’s support for the shipyard was enough to justify a vote for her. Carey called himself “a bad Republican” — still registered with the party but increasingly alienated by Trump and by Collins, whom he views as an enabler of the president.Carey cited the latest allegations involving Collins’s political circle, which he saw as a symptom of the Republican Party’s growing tolerance for corruption. He conceded that Collins had brought tangible benefits to Maine. But the trade-off — between those local benefits and her enabling of Trump at the national level — had become increasingly difficult to ignore.“Is national stability, from the Senate on up, worth paying a price for?” he asked.
>>1539570Why are republicans so corrupt and dishonest?
>>1539624Collins is an interesting case because she's a fence sitter who always caves for the highest bidder.
>>1539633interesting that the MSM will report on this and investigate that, but all these years and not ONE SINGLE WORD about the fact that Hunters laptop contained irrefutable proof that Joe Briben gang fucked little Ukrainian kids.
>>1539634derail attempt #1
>>1539571> inquiry into allegations that a defense contractor made concealed political contributions benefiting Collins in exchange for help securing federal contractsSusan Collins is corrupt? I’m shocked! Shocked! Well not that shocked.
>>1539638It's even more shocking how the FBI investigation went away after Trump was sworn in again.
>>1539624Can't spell Conservative without Con.>>1539640Makes you wonder what Quid Quo Pro Collin's promised trump to make the criminal prosecution of her to go away.
>>1539647>>1539640The investigation went away because it was proven Collins was yet another innocent victim of the lying liggeral leftist lawfare attacks, they did it against Trump. They love using lawfare. Bogus charges, presided over by liggeral judges, so they can undermine our democracy, attacking any politician they dont like with these shady tactics and legal tricks. Demonrats do this because they know their policies and ideas are toxic to the American people, they know they cant win elections based purely on their ideas, so they resort to lawfare
>>1539647Pussy, probably.
>>1539649>The investigation went away because it was proven Collins was yet another innocent victim of the lying liggeral leftist lawfare attacksOk but they literally have proof she took a bribe. explain it?
>>1539677That's been confirmed as fake news
>>1539649Projection.
>>1539730According to whom?
>>1539810If it wasn't fake news than the investigation would still be ongoing.
>>1539823Kash Patel doesn't investigate things he doesn't like.
Pork barrel politics. But considering how Dems fucked up massively with the Platner shitshow and his replacement seems pretty milquetoast, I'd be surprised if Collins is voted out. She's too entrenched and this scandal isn't going to sway many.
>>1539855>She's too entrenched and this scandal isn't going to sway many.This is the entire GOP strategy for the midterms: hope the corruption doesn't sway many.
>>1539869Dem's strategy is to act like Trump fucked everything up, when we're still in recovery from Bidenflation.The more interesting part of this strategy is that they aren't even promising to fix anything,
>>1539923Bidenflation is fake. Everything got more expensive during covid globally. This didn't have shit to do with Biden.Biden still fucked up with handling covid. But it would've been far worse if Trump and the crackhead that is RFK Jr would've been at power during covid
>>1539924Bidenflation is real. Biden inflated the global reserve currency.The cope is unreal.>It would have been worseOK historian of alternate timelines.The fucking curve of death doesn't lie.Biden fucked up the world. That is what leftism does.
>>1539925Dude measles is coming back in the US and RFK Jr wants to tell you about dye in cheese and then posts an image of him and Trump eating McDonalds one month later. Healthcare costs aren't going down and there are food recalls constantly while RGK Jr posts TikTok edits of him working out with Kid Rock.And you're telling me about cope.
>>1539926Why must the liggeral make everything political?Amazing how measles outbreak maps correlate with blue areas on a 2024 voting map though.Makes me wonder if troonatics are infecting themselves to get dRumpf
>Trump supports Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia gets support from UK PM Burnham, who is pro-LGBTQ+. Also:https://i.postimg.cc/cL2Y6MWB/trump-with-trans-gay-people.pnghttps://i.postimg.cc/9FGXbkcQ/trump-flag.pngThus Trump and 1539932 are liggerals.>>1539926The projecting hypocrite migger 1539932 making everything political in /news/ is all the cope it has left, coming up to the midterms when it'll be more than impossible for miggers & Trump to beat the left.
>>1539649She took a freaking bribe. How is this a liberal rag hitpeice when it's a fact she was bribed? >>1539634And are you also just making up dumb facts like this? It's been proven that Trump is the most named person in the Epstein files. His name appears more times in there than jesus's name in the Bible. Hunter's Biden laptop never said anything about the biden's pedophile operations in Ukraine because there is no such thing.
>>1539945>been proven that Trump is the most named person in the Epstein filesNo, it has not. Stop with the hysterics.
>>1539932>Why must liggerals make the right wing anti-vax push political?Because it is political Connie closet case, your politicians politicized it even more than retarded autism lady. Congrats on adopting the worst liberal policy.>Measles outbreaks are correlated with blue areas!So You're just telling bold-faced lies?>hunter biden's laptop is proof of biden's Ukrainian pedo ring.So you're just telling bold-faced lies, okay.>>1539945It's funny, there's a section in his daughter's stolen diary about how she showered with him once and got turned on, and they were on here claiming biden was a pedo because of that. And then when you look at what she actually said about it in court, which completely exonerated him, they just pivot to a different lie about a different kid. I have to wonder if this was a game of telephone, where Ashley became hunter and the dairy became a laptop. Because if they're making shit up wholecloth, why not lead with that?
>>1539973>Was I molested?Was the line.
>>1539975>Was I molested? was the line.No, it literally wasn't you stupid, closeted migger. The line was:"Was I molested? I can't remember specifics, but I do remember trauma. I remember not liking the wolzacks hourse; I remember somewhat being sexualized with caroline; I remember having sex with friends @ a young age. Showers with my dad, (probably not appropriate), being turned on when I wasn't supposed to be.Doesn't say anything about Biden molesting her you disingenuous dipshit, now let's see what she said about it in court: >Although this criminal act happened more than three years ago, because of the publicity it drew— exactly as Ms. Harris intended—I am constantly re -traumatized by it. I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online . Repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once-private writings and lob false accusations that defame my character and those of the people I love.Here's the link : https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/654c5f7182bca1ee/6fe57478-full.pdfIt's almost like you're trying to deliberately misrepresent this information by selectively leaving shit out. But that would make you a disingenuous propagandist dipshit. Now tell me about hunter's laptop you fucking brainwashed faggot.
>>1539977Troon is raging again.https://www.henryford.com/blog/2024/05/what-you-should-know-about-male-menopause>Mood swings
>>1539977>"Was I molested?As anon said.
>and 1539978 displays its depraved perverted obsession again>y-y-you dare to prove my opinions wrong?! I know, I'll call the poster who dares to question my way of thinking a "troon!" because I - 1539978 - am a pervert that's obsessed with them!1539978 is reduced to these sorts of mood swings when its raging the way it does at you, >>1539977
I personally think it's wrong to gang rape kids. Apparently Joe Briben thinks otherwise. Weird
>>1539984I love to gang rape kids with my buddy Obama!
>>1539988I'm Joe-BI the raping fanI rape all the kids I canToot toot.I'll rape all the cunnyAnd extort Hunter's moneyI'm Joe-Bi the raping fan
>>1539985esl shill doesn't support pedophiles because they love owning the libs, esl shill loves supporting pedophiles for the love of pedophilia
>>1539984>>1539988>>1539989derail attempt #2
>>1539989>>1539988Joe Briben? That guy who gang rapes kids? You mean that Joe Briben?
>>1539984Why are you attacking a strawman of what you imagine Biden was like then either of the Two Presidents who actually spent large amounts of time on Paedophile Island? Is is just because you can't attack Clinton on it because Trump also partook?
>>1539995>>1539996The thread is about Susan Collins.
>>1539997But the child gang rapes are about Joe Briben and as long as we are talking about allegedly corrupt politicians on the right it will always be relevant to than question why no one investigates literal child rape from the left. So. Can you answer that question? Why do liggerals defend Joe Briben the child gang raper?
>>1539997It's because ESL shill needs to use Russian tactics, because trump conspired with the russians, to deflect from the fact that Susan Collins took bribes in a pay 2 play scheme that trump covered up for her.
>>1540002Dude can you stop shitting this place up for just one (1) day? We can never actually talk about the news because you're in every thread screeching about shills. You're single handedly destroying what little is left of this dead board.
>1540003>Every accusation is a confessionClassic. Stop spamming RussianPost threads if you're serious.
Liggerals don't wanna discuss the child rapings, it's always damage control and deflection.
I'm standing up for those child victims that can't stand up for themselves.
>>1540004>>1540005>>1540007(You) need to stop.
>>1540008I'll stop calling out child rape as soon as Joe Briben stops raping kids
You mean trump rape kids and is still covering up the Epstein list.Because he was the leader of it, along with Epstein.
>>1540010President Trump released millions of pages of the Epstein files. Joe Briben? 0.
>>1540013>Release over 3 million pages >Nooo those don't count. >What matters is a fight between the Court and DoJ about whether or not DoJ has to translate and redact foreign language documents in the files Yeah. Okay.
>>1540013Thank God for our federal judiciary helping Trump keep and deliver on his political promises.Joe Briben wishes he had federal judges helping him accomplish his campaign promises.
Reminder: Joe Briben is a fictional name, thus Joe Biden is innocent, so the esl shill is reduced to projection and deflection. But then:>>1539420>>1539578>Based big booty black girl. A BBBBG, if you will>the OP pic in >>1539420>>1539639>1539578>you've exposed yourself as a pedophile, ESL shill>this will be in every one of your threads from here on outAccusations are literally Admissions, esl shill that is an admitted pedo.>>1539639 is right, you know.
>>1540003> you're in every thread screeching about shills. You're single handedly destroying what little is left of this dead board.This is what The Creature from the Troon Lagoon wants for some reason.Ignore, filter, etc.Troon will rope with a 43% probability by next Sunday.
>>1540010The fucking list of Epstein shit has been available for nearly 7 years or more now, you gay fucking faggot.That's why anon keeps fucking with you.
>>1540043If that's the case why is trump still leading the cover up of the files?
>>1540309He's been releasing millions of Epstein files after signing the Epstien Transparency act into law.Can you remind me how many Epstein files the Biden presidency released?
>>1540313Biden released the exact amount the Supreme Court allowed him to release: 0.
>>1540320I didn't realize the supreme court was not allowing Biden to release the Epstein files. Could you give me a link with more info, I didn't see that story
>>1540324https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20260211/118951/HHRG-119-JU00-20260211-SD013.pdf
>>1540313>He's been releasing millions of Epstein files after signing the Epstien Transparency act into law.After redacting his name out of them.
>>1540336I love all these people who are painting the story as Trump personally censoring the documents, and Trump personally deciding which documents get released and which are held up for review.
>>1540359>leave the billionaire pedophile alone!lmao
