Trump firings and pushouts of federal agents and lawyers ended Kao review
FBI records reviewed by ProPublica directly contradict claims Collins and her top aides have made defending themselves since the nonprofit newsroom published an investigation Tuesday into her relationship with Martin Kao, the former CEO of the Hawaii defense contractor Navatek. Kao, a major donor, told law enforcement he exchanged campaign cash for government contracts. Kao’s confession came after his guilty plea for campaign finance and loan fraud. ProPublica reports that “some of the statements made by Collins and her representatives are not accurate.” The records show the FBI continued investigating Collins, her staff, and a pro-Collins super PAC until early 2025, when the Trump administration fired or pushed out the federal agents and Justice Department lawyers assigned to the Kao case, ending the corruption review, which was in its early stages.
In media appearances after the original story published, Collins said: “In 2021, the Biden Justice Department found there was no wrongdoing by anyone on my campaign staff, my office or me.” She also said: “The Biden-led Justice Department and FBI totally cleared my office, my campaign and me five years ago of these seven-year-old allegations.”
An FBI spokesperson told ProPublica the agency had investigated claims against Collins years ago “and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign.” But the investigation at the center of ProPublica’s story was based on claims Kao made between 2022 and 2024 — not seven years ago, as Collins states. That investigation did not conclude under Biden but under Trump in 2025, after the Trump administration purged the agents and Department of Justice attorneys assigned to the case.
Collins is referring to the FBI’s initial investigation of Kao, which started in 2021. No one in Collins’ orbit was charged as a result of that earlier investigation. FBI records reviewed by ProPublica show the agency remained interested in the conduct of Collins and her staff right up until the most recent phase of the investigation was shut down under Trump.
The documents show Kao was still answering agents’ questions as late as September 2024, when he sat for a two-day interview with FBI agents at the U.S. attorney’s office in Honolulu. During that interview, Kao provided them with a 50-page document offering many new allegations about his interactions with elected officials, including Collins. In early 2025, FBI agents were still examining Kao’s relationship with Collins, her staffers and employees of the pro-Collins super PAC, ProPublica found.
Annie Clark, Collins’ deputy chief of staff, defended the senator, saying: “The FBI and the Court obviously did not believe Kao.” The judge in Kao’s sentencing offered him no benefit for his cooperation with federal authorities, sentencing him to 87 months in federal prison. While Kao had credibility issues as a convicted felon, FBI documents seen by ProPublica show agents were able to corroborate some of his claims.
“Pursuant to a Grand Jury Subpoena issued to Navatek, related to the previous investigation, hundreds of thousands of documents were provided to the FBI,” agents wrote in a December 2024 document. “Several emails and other documents corroborate Kao’s statements made to the FBI.” People familiar with the investigation told ProPublica that FBI agents found Kao to be credible.
Clark also argued: “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.” ProPublica stated it reviewed a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI, examined thousands of pages of legal records, and interviewed dozens of people familiar with Navatek, its Washington operations and the FBI inquiry to independently corroborate much of Kao’s account.
One strand of the corroboration involves Scott Reed, the head of the Collins super PAC. Kao said Reed promised to make the senator aware that Kao was the person behind a large, anonymous $150,000 donation to the super PAC made through a shell company. ProPublica published emails between Reed and Kao showing Kao told Reed the name of the shell company he was using to anonymize his donation. The nonprofit also published an email from someone working for Reed to a Navatek representative asking for Kao’s number so Collins could thank him for the donation — documents ProPublica said are consistent with Kao’s account.
Steve Abbott, Collins’ campaign manager, said at a Wednesday press conference: “We have no record of her calling him.” Abbott added that such a phone call would not be unusual: “We routinely thank people for contributions. … We try to thank everybody.” Reed did not answer detailed questions about the $150,000 donation but said he did not speak to Collins about Kao. He added: “I understand Martin Kao is now sitting in federal prison.”
ProPublica’s initial reporting revealed that the FBI had been circling Collins, her aides and the super PAC for years before the investigation ended. Since returning to office, President Trump fired or pushed out most of the federal agents and lawyers investigating high-profile federal corruption matters, including those working on the Kao case. The dismissals ended the corruption review, which was in its early stages.