# ProPublica's Collins donor story

News · Heat 1.5 / 10 · 5 shows · 31m airtime

ProPublica reported on September 24, 2026 that the FBI investigated whether Martin Cow, a former Navitech CEO and major Susan Collins donor, ran a pay-to-play scheme trading campaign money for help securing federal defense contracts, and that the probe was active when Trump's 2025 purge of FBI and Justice Department officials ended it. Emails show Cow wrote in 2019 that he was routing a $150,000 donation through a shell company, and Collins asked for his number to thank him seven days after the money landed. Cow later gave the FBI a 50-page roadmap naming lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists in alleged cash-for-contracts deals. A ProPublica follow-up names Clyburn and Graham, alleging Clyburn inserted bill language to steer a Navitek contract. The…

Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/propublicas_collins_donor_story_3685383813

## Segments

- [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-09-25, 31:56 to 38:07: **Debates the Collins donor story**. Opens the ProPublica story on the FBI's pay-to-play inquiry into Collins donor Martin Cow and the 2019 shell-company donation email, then debates whether corruption or a changed, Trump-aligned Collins is the stronger closing argument in Maine. New angle: Cow wrote in a 2019 email that he was routing a $150,000 donation through a shell company; Collins asked for his number to thank him seven days after it was…
- [The Jimmy Dore Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejimmydoreshow), 2026-09-30, 39:25 to 49:16: **Reads ProPublica's Collins donor report**. Reads through the ProPublica report: the shell-company donation, Cow's cooperation and 50-page roadmap, and the closure of the inquiry after the FBI's anti-corruption unit was gutted. Collins' denial is read out, then dismissed. New angle: Cow gave the FBI a 50-page roadmap naming lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists in alleged cash-for-contracts deals.
- [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-05, 18:09 to 24:28: **Adds the campaign's pushback and the money frame**. Adds the Collins campaign's on-record pushback - it calls the ProPublica story an election hit job and says the allegations were settled in 2021 - plus the money frame: a roughly $27 million Republican ad advantage and a New York Times analysis pegging dark money in the race near $75 million. New angle: The Collins campaign calls the ProPublica story an election hit job and says the allegations were settled in 2021.
- [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-21, 12:54 to 17:07: **Walks through the ProPublica bribery probe**. Walks through the ProPublica investigation into Martin Kao's bribery allegations against Graham, Clyburn and Wilson: the Navy funding timeline, the disputed 2020 dinner, Kao's arrest and cooperation, and the probe's collapse after January 2025. Adds the FBI's on-record denial and the lawmakers' responses. New angle: The FBI calls Kao's allegations half-baked and misleading; Graham's office calls them the ravings of a convicted felon.
- [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-21, 44:10 to 48:28: **Picks up ProPublica's Clyburn contract claim**. Picks up ProPublica's follow-up, headlined as how Trump's FBI purge saved Graham and Clyburn from a bribery investigation. Details the jailed source's claim that Clyburn inserted House bill language mirroring Graham's Senate language to steer a Defense Department contract to Navitek, and notes the story is being ignored. New angle: ProPublica's follow-up names Clyburn and Graham, alleging Clyburn inserted bill language to steer a Navitek contract.