2026-09-23T17:49:19.447Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
缅因州民主党人要求共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯就一则报道作出回应，该报道称其办公室承诺将数百万美元的联邦合同拨付给一家夏威夷国防承包商，以换取对其2020年竞选活动的捐款。
“这是一项极其严重的指控，我们需要苏珊·柯林斯立即作出回应和处理，”缅因州民主党执行主任德文·墨菲-安德森说道。“我们在这里并不是呼吁苏珊·柯林斯辞职，也不是要指责她，我们只是要求她给出解释，”她补充道。
非营利新闻机构ProPublica于周二报道称，该承包商纳瓦泰克（Navatek）的多名高管在2019年会见了柯林斯的一位顶级筹款人，当时柯琳斯正面临一场艰难的连任竞选，筹款方面落后对手。ProPublica报道称，此次会议是在柯林斯帮助该公司获得一份价值数百万美元的海军研究合同约一年后举行的。
ProPublicana报道称，这位筹款人向高管们索要竞选捐款，该公司首席执行官马丁·考同意开具支票，以换取数千万美元的额外政府合同，尽管当时存在禁止政府承包商进行政治捐款的规定。
这篇报道可能会撼动这场有望决定11月参议院控制权的竞选。作为已连任五届的现任议员，柯林斯正在缅因州寻求连任，该州在2024年总统大选中以7个百分点的差距输给了唐纳德·特朗普。
柯林斯的副幕僚长安妮·克拉克在一份声明中表示，ProPublica报道中的指控“完全是虚假的”。
“柯林斯竞选团队在整个调查过程中与联邦调查局（FBI）充分合作，提供了其要求的所有文件，并在正式场合作为事实证人作证，”克拉克在声明中说道。
她指责考“在其联邦案件面临判刑之际，编造有关柯林斯办公室的离谱指控”。
联邦调查局发表声明称，“这篇文章中提及的指控多年前就已由联邦调查局调查过，最终未发现有任何牵连柯林斯参议员或其竞选团队的证据。任何相反的说法都是完全虚假的。”
柯林斯的竞选经理史蒂夫·雅培周三举行了新闻发布会，称ProPublica的报道“令人愤慨”。
“每个竞选周期我们都会听到类似的说法，说苏珊·柯林斯腐败之类的，”雅培说道。“我的意思是，不管怎样……这种说辞一遍又一遍地出现。”
ProPublica报道称，考通过一家空壳公司向柯林斯的竞选筹款机构捐赠了15万美元。考后来告诉其他高管，柯林斯已承诺向纳瓦泰克公司提供3200万美元的政府合同。该报道附带了一张支票照片，收款方是支持柯林斯的1820政治行动委员会，付款方据称是空壳公司“青年女性科学家与工程师协会有限责任公司”。
该媒体还报道称，这些被指控的行为引发了联邦调查局的调查，该调查在特朗普2021年就职后不久就终止了。
考和另外两名纳瓦泰克高管在2022年被起诉，罪名是向国会候选人非法捐赠竞选资金。考此前因一起新冠救济欺诈案正在服刑，去年他在非法竞选捐款案中认罪，并被追加33个月的监禁。
柯林斯最终在2020年的竞选中以超过8个百分点的优势击败民主党人萨拉·吉迪恩，成功连任。
缅因州民主党人周二上午举行新闻发布会，要求柯林斯提供更多信息。
“我们有权确切了解发生了什么，”墨菲-安德森补充道。“我们有权知道纳税人的钱是否始终仅仅是根据缅因州民众的利益进行分配，还是存在其他幕后交易，我们有权让在华盛顿的代表明白，公职就是公众信任。”
Maine Democrats criticize Susan Collins over reported allegations of pay-to-play scheme
2026-09-23T17:49:19.447Z / CNN
Maine Democrats are demanding that Republican Sen. Susan Collins answer for a report that her office committed to steering millions of dollars in federal contracts to a Hawaii-based defense contractor in exchange for donations to her 2020 campaign.
“This is an incredibly serious allegation that we need Susan Collins to respond to and address immediately,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said. “We’re not up here calling for Susan Collins to resign. We’re not up here putting blame on her. We are asking her for answers,” she added.
ProPublica reported on Tuesday that several executives of the contractor, Navatek, met with a top fundraiser for Collins in 2019 as she was facing a tough reelection contest in which she was behind in fundraising. The meeting took place about a year after Collins helped steer a multimillion-dollar naval research contract to the company, ProPublica reported.
ProPublica reported that the fundraiser asked the executives for a campaign donation, and the company’s CEO, Martin Kao, agreed to cut a check in exchange for tens of millions of additional dollars in government contracts, despite prohibitions on government contractors making political contributions.
The story could shake up a race that could help decide control of the Senate in November. Collins, a five-term incumbent, is seeking reelection in a state that President Donald Trump lost in 2024 by seven points.
Collins’ deputy chief of staff, Annie Clark, said in a statement that the allegations in ProPublica’s story were “categorically false.”
“The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings,” Clark said in the statement.
She accused Kao of “making outlandish charges about the Collins office” while facing sentencing in his federal case.
The FBI issued a statement saying that “the allegations made in this article had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”
Collins’ campaign manager, Steve Abbott, held a press conference Wednesday in which he described ProPublica’s reporting as “outrageous.”
“We hear this every cycle that Susan Collins is corrupt and all,” Abbott said. “I mean, whatever … It’s the same thing over and over and over again.”
ProPublica reported that Kao, using a shell company, sent $150,000 to Collins’ campaign fundraising arm. Kao later told other executives that Collins had committed to giving Navatek $32 million in government contracts. The story included a picture of a check made out to the pro-Collins 1820 PAC from the purported shell company “Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers, LLC.”
The outlet also reported those alleged actions prompted an FBI investigation that was shuttered shortly after Trump took office in 2021.
Kao and two other Navatek executives in 2022 were indicted on charges of making unlawful campaign contributions to a candidate for Congress. Kao, who was already serving a sentence stemming from a COVID-relief fraud case, pleaded guilty in the illegal campaign donations case last year and was sentenced to an additional 33 months in prison.
Collins ended up winning her 2020 contest against Democrat Sara Gideon by more than 8 points.
Democrats held a press conference in Maine Tuesday morning demanding more answers from Collins.
“We deserve to know exactly what happened,” Murphy-Anderson added. “We deserve to know whether taxpayer dollars were always being directed solely based on the interests of Maine people, or if there was something else at play, and we deserve representation in DC that understands the public office is public trust.”
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