Susan Collins took $150,000 from defense company
The gist
ProPublica reported a defense contractor sent $150,000 to a super PAC backing Susan Collins.
The report lands six weeks before her reelection bid in a competitive Senate race.
How it unfolded
- 2019Several Navatek executives met with a top fundraiser for Collins as she faced a tough reelection contest, about a year after she helped steer a multimillion-dollar naval research contract to the company.
- Late 2019Kao used a shell company to send an initial payment of $150,000 to a super PAC supporting Collins.
- Two months after the $150,000 paymentKao told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts in Maine, according to an internal company email reviewed by ProPublica.