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ProPublica Revives Pay-to-Play Allegations Against Susan Collins

By Drooid · Sep 25, 2026, 3:41 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

U.S. Senator Susan Collins faces new pay-to-play allegations.
ProPublica reports her 2020 campaign got a $150,000 Navatek donation and promised $32 million in contracts.
The FBI opened a 2024 bribery probe, which U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ended in 2025.
Collins says the allegations are false, noting the FBI and DOJ cleared her campaign in 2021.
Democrats Troy Jackson and Devon Murphy-Anderson demand answers as Collins seeks a sixth term in Trump-lost state.

History

Historical Context

After the 1989 Keating Five scandal—where five senators, including John McCain, accepted $1.3 million from Charles Keating and prompted a Senate Ethics overhaul—the 2002 McCain-Feingold reforms tightened campaign-finance rules. Those reforms now underpin the FBI’s 2024 bribery probe into Senator Susan Collins, who allegedly received a $150,000 Navatek donation linked to a $32 million contract.

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Story summary

U.S. Senator Susan Collins faces new pay-to-play allegations.
ProPublica reports her 2020 campaign got a $150,000 Navatek donation and promised $32 million in contracts.
The FBI opened a 2024 bribery probe, which U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ended in 2025.
Collins says the allegations are false, noting the FBI and DOJ cleared her campaign in 2021.
Democrats Troy Jackson and Devon Murphy-Anderson demand answers as Collins seeks a sixth term in Trump-lost state.

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