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Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign.
The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers.
Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
ALT Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek, poses next to Sen. Susan Collins for a photo. Collins is holding a model of a boat in her hands. Behind them is a large sign with the Navatek logo.
A trust owned by Texas AG Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, invested in a company led by a convicted fraudster.
The firm and its affiliates later sent the trust 15 payments totaling $83K before and during the AG’s impeachment trial.
propublica.org/article/ken-p…
Regulators in other states have come down hard on Citation Oil & Gas before: In 2025, Utah reached a $700K settlement with the company after a crude oil spill.
Oklahoma, however, has never issued a single punishment to this repeat offender.
propublica.org/article/oklah…
Under the Trump administration, the Department of Education has stopped publishing the list of schools facing federal civil rights investigations.
We sued to get the records — and now we’re publishing the list of schools under investigation.
propublica.org/article/civil…
Two months after Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, made a donation to a Susan Collins super PAC through a shell company, he told his fellow execs that he received word Collins would commit to getting his company $32M in naval contracts.
Listen to this excerpt:
For more, listen to the full episode: propub.li/4zmnROT
Unsafe recreational marijuana products have stayed on shelves in Colorado for as long as three years, according to a new state audit.
The report follows a yearlong Denver Gazette-ProPublica investigation into the agency's regulatory lapses.
propublica.org/article/color…
The FBI opened an investigation into an alleged pay-for-play scheme on Capitol Hill.
The CEO of the defense firm Navatek told agents his business consisted of bribing public officials — and it involved some of the most powerful figures in Congress.
propublica.org/article/navat…
State officials say an agency tasked with election security has become less equipped to help states fight cyber threats.
Some leaders have filled gaps with their own resources. But some services, like intel on foreign actors, can’t be replicated.
propublica.org/article/cisa-…
A week after ProPublica published an investigation that found $470 million in SNAP benefits were stolen from Americans last year alone, the Trump administration announced a new rule to add microchips, which are more secure, to EBT cards.
propublica.org/article/snap-…
The Trump administration is buying a stake in a private oil firm, and investors in the company could receive enormous wealth from the arrangement.
The role of the Venezuelan government and the potential benefits to its people are largely absent from the text of the deal.
propublica.org/article/trump…
Wildfires in the American West present a secondary threat that has received far less attention: flooding.
A tourist town knew recent fires could worsen flash floods, but officials chided residents who posted warnings on social media.
propublica.org/article/wildf…
Officer Jaron Alexander says he didn’t come back to Ingram, Texas, to help deport his neighbors.
But one year after joining ICE’s 287(g) program, his department has handed over the equivalent of 10% of the town.
propublica.org/article/depor…
New: Citation Oil & Gas is named more often than any other company in Oklahoma’s database of oil field pollution incidents and violations — listed more than 1,000 times over the past decade. The state’s oil regulator has never punished the company. propub.li/3WPqUk7
Nearly a decade after a law was passed to help Hanford employees receive workers’ compensation, the DOE continues to fight appeals.
Not even death ends the cycle, with the families of more than 76 dead workers still fighting for survivor’s benefits.
propublica.org/article/hanfo…
As state senator, Brent Taylor repeatedly undermined local officials’ power:
• He helped authorize the state to review every decision made by the Shelby County DA
• He co-sponsored a law voiding Memphis’ ban on police stops for minor traffic infractions
propublica.org/article/brent…
When bird flu broke out on his mink farm, Chad Fenn said he wasn’t worried, having been told there wasn’t much risk to humans.
"My guys wear masks every day. They have glasses they can wear. Me? I don’t wear it at all. Never have, never will.”
propublica.org/article/bird-…
In exchange for promising Navatek ~$10M in gov. funding, Rep. Jim Clyburn asked CEO Martin Kao for a $100,000 campaign donation, Kao told the FBI.
The FBI tallied $20,000 in contributions Kao and his family made to Clyburn only days after their meeting.
propub.li/4z0ATkl
In response to ProPublica's reporting, Clyburn's communications director wrote: "Whatever a donor may think or say, a donation would never cause Congressman Clyburn to increase his support for the donor's request."
ALT Article excerpt: “Whatever a donor may think or say, a donation would never cause Congressman Clyburn to increase his support for the donor’s request,” Jami LaRue, Clyburn’s communications director, wrote in response to detailed questions. “The Congressman has always striven to assist the University of South Carolina and all of the colleges and universities in his district when called upon to further their important missions. The crimes and lies of an imprisoned fraudster will not cause the Congressman to waver in his support for these fine institutions.”
The Trump administration has drained CISA, a federal agency tasked with protecting election systems, of its staff and resources.
Some state authorities said they no longer trusted the administration enough to share information with the agency.
propublica.org/article/cisa-…
West Virginia has been part of a nationwide push, partially funded by billionaire-backed political groups, to use taxpayer dollars to fund private schools.
Among the proponents are the Koch family network and Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass.
propublica.org/article/west-…
