Collins calls the Navatek allegations completely false
Susan CollinsU.S. senator from Maine and Republican candidate for reelection
Asked about the Senate ethics complaint, Collins says the allegations are completely false and were rejected by the Justice Department, the FBI and the Federal Election Commission. She says a photo shows Kao met her months before he made any contribution and that he revived the story hoping for leniency.
“The allegations are completely false ... We have a picture of his meeting with me and with other people in my office that is many months before he ever made a single contribution ... He spun this story up again in the hopes that the judge would be lenient, or the prosecutor would be.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did Susan Collins Trade Federal Contract Support for Navatek Campaign Donations?
Former Navatek chief executive Martin Kao told FBI agents that Susan Collins and people around her knowingly participated in an arrangement connecting campaign support to federal-contract assistance. Collins's office, an FBI spokesperson and several participants dispute that account. Criminal proceedings and an FEC settlement established illegal contributions by Navatek-linked actors, but no public charge or court finding establishes that Collins knowingly joined a quid pro quo.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Guardian report on Collins's answer to a reporter's question about the Senate ethics complaint over the Navatek allegations.
Before the quotation
A reporter asks Collins about an ethics complaint filed the previous week by a Maine attorney. Collins says the allegations were recycled from 2020 and had been rejected by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Federal Election Commission.
After the quotation
Pressed on why she would not welcome an ethics inquiry to clear her name, Collins says it is not up to her, attributes the complaint to partisan Democrats and a lawyer who lost her primary, and says she was never interviewed because there was no evidence.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether Collins traded support for Navatek's federal contracts for campaign donations. Collins rejects the allegation outright and disputes the account's timeline, so we used the denies label.
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More from this case
Read the full caseAbbott says a photo disproves the claim that Kao had to donate before meeting Collins
“ProPublica has the theory that Martin Kao, based on Martin Kao's word, had to make a donation before he could get in to see Susan Collins. As you can see from that picture, it's not true”Read statement
Collins campaign says it has no record of Collins calling Kao to thank him
“Neither Susan Collins nor anyone who worked for her believes that she made a call”Read statement
Emma Vigeland calls the Navatek accusations against Susan Collins well documented
“Here is Susan Collins getting pressed about this story on the Wall Street Journal podcast, and she says she's very offended about these accusations that are well-documented by one of the only outlets doing real journalism in this country anymore, ProPublica.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Collins calls the Navatek allegations completely false". First published: 2026-10-21. Last updated: 2026-10-21. https://disputeindex.com/events/6400-asked-about-the-senate-ethics-complaint-collins-says