Collins denies allegations in corruption report: 'Absolutely outrageous'

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is vehemently denying a ProPublica report out earlier this week that says the FBI targeted her in a corruption probe, saying "it's clearly a political hit job."

The ProPublica report said that a Republican consultant asked defense firm Navatek and its former CEO Martin Kao for big donations to her campaign in exchange for millions in federal contracts. In 2024, the FBI sought to launch an investigation into Collins and the donor, but when President Donald Trump returned to office for his second term, the investigation died after he made cuts to the FBI, the report stated.

ABC News has not independently confirmed the reporting by ProPublica and has reached out to Navatek for comment. Kao did not speak with ProPublica for its story.

"The Biden Justice Department found that there was no wrongdoing by any one of my campaign staff, my office, or me," the five-term Maine senator said on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. "This is absolutely outrageous. It's clearly a political hit job."

Annie Clark, Collins' deputy chief of staff, said that the Biden administration, FBI and Department of Justice had "thoroughly investigated the Navatek matter."

"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 a statement on social media, adding that these "issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then."

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told ProPublica that the agency had investigated the claims against Collins years ago "and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false."

Williamson did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about the alleged new, separate investigation launched in 2024.

Collins -- who is running for reelection in the closely watched Maine Senate race, which could determine the balance of power in the upper chamber -- said "it's very frustrating and unfair to have it brought up this close to the election."

Collins maintained that she learned the company was doing 3D printing research to build boats and were awarded the defense contracts because the Navy found its developments to be "valuable."

"I'm telling you that this is completely false," Collins said Tuesday of the ProPublica report's allegations.

Clark on Tuesday also called the allegations in the report "categorically false."

"The seven-year-old allegations made against Senator Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false. There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation," Clark wrote in a statement on social media.

Collins' campaign manager, Steve Abbott, responded to the report and called the allegations false and outrageous.

"Not only false. I would say outrageous," Abbott said.

Collins' opponent in the Maine Senate race, Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, reacted to the report, saying "the jig is up."

"This is corruption of the highest order," Jackson wrote in a statement on Tuesday.