参议员苏珊·科林斯的连任竞选活动周二发布了新信息，表示这项信息可以免除共和党现任参议员面临的近期收钱做事指控，这些指控目前正被民主党人所利用。
Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection campaign released new information on Tuesday that it says absolves the Republican incumbent of the recent pay-to-play allegations currently being seized on by Democrats.
竞选经理史蒂夫·阿波特针对9月22日由ProPublica发布的一篇报道进行了回击，该报道among other things报道称前Navatek公司首席执行官马丁·Kao告诉FBI，科林斯在会见捐款人之前要求政治捐款。
Campaign Manager Steve Abbott took aim at a story published by ProPublica on Sept. 22 that, among other things, reported that former Navatek CEO Martin Kao told the FBI that Collins required political contributions before meeting with donors.
阿波特表示，该媒体的报道未能承认科林斯与Navatek公司的全部历史，这家公司正处于丑闻的中心。阿波特辩称，科林斯只有在一所当地大学请求国防资金之后才开始与Navatek合作。
Abbott said the outlet’s reporting failed to acknowledge Collins’ full history with Navatek, the company at the center of the scandal. Collins started working with Navatek only after a local university requested defense funding, Abbott contended.
在与记者的视频电话会议上，阿波特展示了一封2017年来自缅因大学的信件，该信件寻求500万美元的联邦资金用于与Navatek合作的一个项目，旨在"启动一项协同研究计划，以应对美国海军日益迫切的需求，即提高未来海上车辆的机动能力"。科林斯最终在2018财年预算中争取到这笔资金。
On a video call with reporters, Abbott showed a 2017 letter from the University of Maine seeking $5 million in federal funding for a project in partnership with Navatek “to launch a collaborative research program to address the U.S. Navy’s pressing need to enhance the mobility of future marine vehicles.”Collins ultimately secured the funding in the fiscal year 2018 budget.
阿波特还展示了一张2018年2月科林斯在她的办公室与Kao以及其他官员会面的照片。Kao后来告诉联邦调查人员，科林斯那年拒绝与他会面，除非他向她的2020年连任竞选活动捐款。
Abbott also showed a photo of Collins meeting with Kao in her office with other officials in February of 2018. Kao later told federal investigators that Collins refused to meet that year with him unless he made a donation to her 2020 reelection campaign.
但联邦记录显示，Kao直到2018年6月27日才第一次向科林斯捐款。
But Kao did not make his first donation to Collins until June 27, 2018, federal records show.
阿波特说："ProPublica的理论是，马丁·Kao根据马丁·Kao自己的说法，在他能见到苏珊·科林斯之前必须先捐款。正如你们可以从那张照片中看到的那样，这是不正确的。"据该竞选活动发布的截图显示，照片由参议院摄影师于2018年2月15日拍摄，嵌入数据显示。
“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,” Abbott said. “As you can see from that picture, it’s not true.”The photo was taken by a Senate photographer on Feb. 15, 2018, embedded data showed, according to a screenshot released by the campaign.
此次媒体发布会再次体现了柯林斯积极应对各类指控的态度——这些指控可能损害她作为参议院拨款委员会负责人的声誉。她为缅因州争取到的资金，正是她与民主党人特洛伊·杰克逊竞选连任时的核心宣传点。杰克逊曾是一名伐木工人，现任州参议院议长。
The campaign’s media call was another example of how Collins is aggressively responding to allegations that could undercut her work as the top senate appropriator. The money she brings home to Maine is a key theme of her reelection campaign against Democrat Troy Jackson, a former logger and state Senate president.
此次发布会也正值柯林斯与特洛伊·杰克逊的首场电视辩论前夕，后者极有可能提及ProPublica的报道内容。多数民调显示，在这场备受关注的缅因州参议院选举中，杰克逊保持着微弱优势。
It also comes ahead of Collins’ first televised debate against Troy Jackson, who is likely to raise the issue of ProPublica’s reporting. Jackson has maintained a narrow lead in the Maine’s closely watched Senate race, according to most polls.
高在2022年承认犯有洗钱及银行欺诈罪，目前正服刑于联邦监狱。他曾积极配合联邦调查人员的工作，以期获得减刑。
Kao pleaded guilty to charges involving money laundering and bank fraud in 2022, and is currently in federal prison. He had been cooperating with federal investigators in an effort to get his sentence reduced.
据ProPublica报道，基于高在2022年至2024年间向调查人员提供的证词，联邦调查局原本准备对柯林斯及其他国会议员展开大规模腐败调查。不过报道称，2025年特朗普重新上任并解散了反腐败部门后，该调查便被搁置了。
ProPublica reported that the FBI was gearing up for a widespread corruption probe of Collins and other members of Congress based on statements Kao made to investigators between 2022 and 2024. The outlet reported that the investigation was abandoned when Trump returned to office in 2025 and disbanded anti-corruption units.
在《ProPublica》发布相关报道后，柯林斯竞选团队最初作出了回应，但该媒体随后对团队的说法进行了事实核查，发现其中部分内容并不属实。例如，柯林斯团队的发言人声称，《ProPublica》在报道中“轻信了高某的说辞”，而高某“已承认自己犯下五项洗钱罪”。
After her campaign’s initial response to the ProPublica story, the outlet fact-checked statements made by Collins’ team, finding some of their claims to be false. For example, a Collins spokesperson claimed that the outlet “took the word of” Kao in their story, “someone who pled guilty to five counts of money laundering.”
《ProPublica》的记者们则表示，他们独立核实了高某的陈述内容：他们查阅了“联邦调查局收集的大量证据”，研究了“数千页法律文件”，还采访了“数十名熟悉纳瓦泰克公司及其在华盛顿的业务活动以及联邦调查局调查情况的人士”。该媒体还指出，高某向一家支持柯林斯的超级政治行动委员会捐赠了15万美元，而柯林斯则承诺为纳瓦泰克公司争取到3200万美元的新合同。由于联邦承包商被禁止向政治竞选活动捐款，高某通过一家空壳公司完成了这笔非法捐款。
ProPublica reporters contend that they independently corroborated much of his account, reviewing “a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI,” examining “thousands of pages of legal records” and interviewing “dozens of people familiar with Navatek, its Washington operations and the FBI inquiry.”The news site reported that Kao gave $150,000 to a super PAC supporting Collins, who in turn promised to steer $32 million in additional contracts to Navatek. Kao made the illegal donation through a shell company because federal contractors are prohibited from donating to political campaigns.
不过，柯林斯竞选团队的顾问阿博特坚称，无论是柯林斯本人还是其团队中的任何人，都从未承诺过提供具体数额的资金支持。
But Abbott said neither Collins, nor anybody else on her staff, would have promised a specific level of funding.
“我们绝不会做出这样的承诺，因为我们根本无法确定能否实现这一目标，”阿博特说道，“这种说法绝对不可能属实，完全是谎言。”目前，州级及全国性的民主党人士正利用《ProPublica》的报道，在选举的最后阶段大力宣传反腐败理念。
“We would never say that because there is no way we would know that we could get that done,” Abbott said. “No chance that that is true. Absolutely false.”State and national Democrats are now using the ProPublica report to push an anti-corruption message in the final month of the election.
缅因州民主党发言人米莎·林内汉在一份声明中称：“事实再清楚不过：就在2025年，联邦调查局仍在调查柯林斯涉嫌参与的利益输送行为，直到特朗普政府解散了负责此案的调查小组。无论柯林斯团队如何巧舌如簧，都无法掩盖她为了竞选资金而出卖选民利益的事实。”隶属于参议院民主党领袖、纽约州参议员查克·舒默的超级政治行动委员会“WinSenate”上周在缅因州投放了价值340万美元的广告，重点宣传《ProPublica》的报道内容。
“The facts are clear — as recently as 2025, the FBI was circling Susan Collins for her involvement in a pay-to-play scheme until the Trump administration killed the unit that was looking into her,” Misha Linnehan, spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party, said in a statement. “No amount of bluster from Collins’ team can distract Mainers from the fact that she sold them out for campaign cash.”WinSenate, a super PAC aligned with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, launched a $3.4 million ad campaign last week in Maine highlighting the ProPublica story.