Annie Clark
Role at the time: Deputy chief of staff to U.S. Senator Susan Collins
Response to this claim
Susan Collins knowingly participated in a pay-to-play arrangement in which Navatek campaign support was exchanged for her office's assistance obtaining federal contracts.
“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.”
Primary statement from Collins's deputy chief of staff responding to the ProPublica report. Clark disputes the allegations, attacks Kao's credibility, describes the campaign's cooperation with investigators and says the FBI has not contacted the office about Kao since 2021.
Why we used this label
Relative to the alleged knowing exchange of Navatek campaign support for federal-contract assistance, Clark explicitly says the allegations against Collins and her staff are false. That is a direct denial, not merely a challenge to wording.