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.
ProPublica took the word of someone who pled guilty to five counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and making false submissions to the FEC. As Martin Kao was awaiting sentencing, he began making outlandish charges about the Collins office, deflecting blame from himself and placing it on Senator Collins, including alleging that our office required contributions before taking meetings and engaged in extortion, pay for play, and bribery. The FBI and the Court obviously did not believe Kao, and in 2025 he was sentenced in two separate cases to prison terms of seven years and three years to be served concurrently, as well as an additional five years of supervised release at the end of his prison term.
It is important to note that during the Biden Administration the FBI and the Department of Justice 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. In response to the allegations in the ProPublica piece, the FBI clearly stated that a suggestion of wrongdoing by Senator Collins or her staff is “totally false.”
These issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.
New @espn: Athletic's long-awaited investigation into Dianna Russini's reporting is done.
Key finding: she violated newsroom standards, but showed no clear bias toward Mike Vrabel. https://t.co/AuxypfCfLj
The Clippers' letter to Adam Silver, calling the NBA investigation a "witch hunt" and claiming today's report was "the exact opposite of what [the NBA] has said privately." The letter finishes by saying the team is "exploring every legal remedy to address this gross injustice."
An Afghan general who led an 11th hour attempt to stop the Taliban from seizing control of Afghanistan is now—like so many other evacuees—an Uber driver in DC.
An important story by @margbrennan and team five years after the fall of Kabul.
Fire and medical officials have issued warnings about a supplement offered to Western wildland firefighters who have been exposed to toxic chemicals. https://t.co/KFBNsmxYas
"Tom Cruise probably just assumed that my wife, who runs a propane business in Central Pennsylvania, was, like, a star or something!" 😅
– @RossTuckerNFL shares a story from the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding
NOBODY IS WISHING ILL ON TRUMP.
BUT IF THERE ARE SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUES AFFECTING HIS ABILITY TO LEAD, THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW.
THIS ISN'T ABOUT POLITICS.
IT'S ABOUT TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND NATIONAL SECURITY.
RELEASE THE FACTS.
Yet another killer 60 Minutes piece from @BenMullin and @grynbaum, with details on a consequential dinner and other insider stuff. https://t.co/Fh3PsT3fCN