… A blockbuster new story from the amazing investigative journalists at ProPublica detailing blatant corruption by Sen. Susan Collins that was covered up by Trump’s FBI and DOJ. After scandals rocked the initial Democratic nominee Graham Platner, his successor Troy Jackson looks to capitalize on corruption that might finally end Collins’ political career.
… ProPublica:
“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.”
“Our story starts in 2019. Collins is at risk of losing her seat. A year earlier, she helped Navatek land a multimillion-dollar Navy contract in Maine. Scott Reed, head of the pro-Collins super PAC, meets with Navatek execs in a DC cafe and asks for a $500K donation. This is risky. Govt contractors are banned from making political contributions.”
“For the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery. To skirt campaign finance laws and conceal the source of the funds, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, sends an initial $150K to the pro-Collins super PAC using a shell company.”
“Reed knows Kao is behind the donation. ‘Very smart,’ he says in an email. Kao wants assurance Collins would know he was behind it, and according to Kao, Reed confirms that she would. 7 days after the super PAC cashes the check, one of Reed’s subordinates emails a Navatek lobbyist: ‘Sen. Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.’”
“Weeks later, Kao tells his team Collins committed to getting the company $32M in naval contracts. But then, Kao got caught. The FBI had seen through his shell company ruse, and in 2022 a grand jury indicted him for making illegal campaign contributions. No one working for Collins was charged.”
“Facing years in prison, Kao recounted the cafe meeting to the FBI in 2022, hoping to reduce his sentence by revealing the scheme. What he told them has never before become public. That cafe meeting, Kao asserted, was just one episode in a sprawling pay-to-play operation in Congress.”
“He and his close associates donated nearly $900K to dozens of politicians, allowing Navatek to establish operations in half a dozen states with $40M+ a year in gov funds. Of all the politicians Navatek courted, Collins was its most important patron.”
“At times, Kao and his associates cut checks to Collins’ campaign within 24 hours of the annual defense spending bill, which funds military contracts, clearing a key Senate hurdle. Even Navatek’s executives were surprised at how far their money went in DC.”
“Here’s a crazy part: Kao told the FBI that the company’s gov work was of no real value. Its research under his stewardship resulted in products Navatek knew the military would never buy, former employees said. One example: A 3D-printed boat Collins posed with in a photo op.”
“By the end of 2024, FBI agents had enough evidence to pursue a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers of both political parties. They asked their supervisors to approve a new investigation. Then Trump returned to the WH.”
“He eviscerated the specialized FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption investigations, some of which were involved in Trump-related cases. And the govt stopped talking to an informant who had offered a road map to corruption in Congress.”
… Democratic nominee Troy Jackson: “We deserve answers about every contract and every conversation that Collins and her team facilitated on the backs of taxpayers. The jig is up.”
… Republicans are acting and sounding increasingly desperate as Trump is like an anchor dragging them to the bottom of the political ocean, as senate candidates in IA, MI and KS are now calling for an end to the Iran War while others remove references to Trump from their websites. But the sycophantic RNC Chair that Trump installed is plowing ahead with a strategy that the solution to the electoral map is more Trump.
… Fox News ratings change:
US Senate
Georgia: Lean D—>Likely D
Kansas: Likely R—>Lean R
——
Governor
Alaska: Lean R—>Toss-up
Texas: Likely R—>Lean R
… Decision Desk HQ ratings change:
US Senate Alaska
Toss-up —-> Leans Democratic
… USA Today: “In Michigan’s crucial Senate race, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is pulling ahead of Republican Mike Rogers in an election being driven by opposition to Trump, according to a Sept. 22 poll from Suffolk Univ. 48% of likely voters in MI said they were casting their ballot ‘to change the direction Trump is leading the nation.’ Just 20% said they were voting to support Trump.
… “El-Sayed, a doctor and former public health official, now leads Rogers, a former congressman, 47%-40% in a race many Republicans have viewed as their best chance to pick up a Democratic-held seat. Trump carried Michigan in 2024, albeit narrowly, and El-Sayed is a progressive who has never held elective office.”
… “The Suffolk survey found Trump’s approval rating has sunk to 31% in Michigan, where Democrats see the economic impact of his tariffs, especially those imposed on neighboring Canada, as a major liability for the GOP.”
… A Fox reporter to El-Sayed on the campaign trail today: Q - “You say you're a capitalist, what do you mean? El-Sayed: Capitalism is the process by which we enable supply and demand to allocate capital so that it's the most productive in an economy. We are not in a situation where we have capitalism, we have corporatism.”
… A new Marist poll has Democrat Josh Turek now up 8 points against Republican Ashley Hinson in the Senate race. Turek is up 50% to 42% among registered voters. In the governor’s race, Democrat Rob Sand leads 54-42%.”
… Politico: GOP leaders are also trying to keep a handle on contests in IA and KS - and they’ve quietly begun deprioritizing GA and even NC, which a growing number of Republicans are privately bracing for Democrats to flip. One senior GOP official: “We need to stop the contagion.”
… “Since Aug. 1, nearly two-thirds of advertising funds in House races have been booked or spent in races with GOP incumbents. Republicans have adjusted their Senate map expectations: They’re still bullish about ME, MI and NH. They’re not as optimistic about NC. Republicans are more concerned about AK and TX. And their worries about OH have escalated amid soaring diesel prices and backlash to tariffs.”
… RNC Chair Joe Gruters on Fox:
“We’re gonna put the president front and center, and we expect that to resonate with the American people.”
… Please do. Send him to Maine to do a rally with Collins.
“If you think Havana and Caracas and Moscow is the way to go, then vote for the left.”
“We need more time right now. We need a longer runway.”
“This is not your grandparents’ Democrat Party. They want to get rid of Thanksgiving. They want to get rid of July 4.”
… Every day they get dumber and more desperate.
… Miami Herald: “FL Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds launched an updated campaign website this week stripping away numerous prominent references to his endorsement from Trump as the president’s approval ratings hit new lows.”
… “Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references his Trump endorsement. A button to ‘Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds’ was at the top of the homepage. ‘TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS’ was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading ‘ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!’ marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said ‘RUN, BYRON, RUN!’”
… “All those mentions were stripped away from his updated campaign website. On a landing page detailing Donalds’ agenda, he removed what was previously listed among his priorities: Enact the Trump Agenda. Now affordability is the first issue on the page and Trump’s name is nowhere to be found. Donalds stripped at least 8 references to Trump from his homepage.”
… Laura Loomer: “Anyway, November is going to be a bust. We tried. But there’s only so much you can do. America will learn the hard way about the threat of communism and Islam since it’s not being taken seriously.”
… Former Rep. Marge Greene mocked Loomer: “Trump wants Mamdani to be a great mayor. Someone needs to check on Larry Doomer. She’s spiraling right now and doesn’t understand why worshipping him never gave her a WH press pass. Laura, the truth is, with Trump loyalty only goes one way.”
… New low in the latest CNN poll on Trump’s handling of Iran: Approve - 26%. Disapprove - 73%.
… CNN pollster Harry Enten: “Trump’s net approval on his handling of foreign affairs is 42 points underwater. It is the lowest that any president has ever had on foreign affairs. With independents he’s 57 points underwater - George W. Bush’s lowest rating with independents on foreign affairs was 34 points underwater in 2006.”
… As Trump walked into the UN today, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins attempted to ask him about the new poll numbers after she was banned from the WH. Trump wasn’t happy: “I’m surprised that CNN is here. You should not be here covering me. You said you wouldn’t be covering me. Collins: We are here because we are credentialed by the UN while being blocked by the WH from covering the president.”
… JD Vance on the campaign trail today:
Q: “Just hoping to get a response about a growing number of Republicans in battleground states, calling for an end to the Iran war? Vance: I haven’t seen what you’re talking about. What I’ve seen is people who are very excited about what we’ve done.”
… Politico: “6 weeks before an election Republicans portray as a referendum on socialism and communism, Trump started the week praising a socialist and will end it feting a communist. The president lingered on the lawn of Gracie Mansion yesterday alongside NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, lauding the democratic socialist’s ‘great potential’ and projecting ‘hope he will be a great mayor.’”
… “And as GOP Senate candidates like Mike Rogers and Ashley Hinson face a darkening political sky with the Iran war looming overhead, Trump on Thursday will regale Chinese President Xi Jinping with a state dinner in the East Room. That dissonance is driving WH allies and Republican strategists mad.”
… A Republican close to the WH: “I don’t think people really want to see you toasting the Chinese premier. You’re hosting this glamorous state dinner at a time when people are like, ‘Are you focused on me?’”
… GOP strategist Barrett Marson: “The in-your-face arguments from Republicans this election cycle is that Democrats want to bring socialism or communism to America. Trump is warmly embracing two of the most outspoken leaders of those ideologies.”
… “As Mamdani’s time to brief the press came, he asked Trump on the spot to join him, and the president agreed. During the presser, Mamdani called on MS NOW, CNN, and POLITICO 3 the 3 outlets Trump banned from the WH last week.”
… Mamdani held a press conference today to announce the city’s $135 million settlement with DoorDash to resolve an investigation into underpaying delivery workers:
“Today, after years of corporate greed and impunity, we are holding DoorDash to account. I am proud to announce that DoorDash will pay more than $131 million, the largest settlement for food delivery workers ever secured in American municipal history, and a landmark win for those who have been mistreated and abused for years with nowhere to turn.”
“City Hall will not sit idly by while a megacorporation that made nearly a billion dollars in profits last year rips off the working people who keep our city moving.”
“The Workers’ Justice Project and the Workers’ Algorithm Observatory are engineering software that lets delivery workers record the DoorDash app and share it directly with the city. For the first time, workers will have the power to crowdsource data and investigate the black box algorithms that dictate their schedules and pay.”
“DoorDash cannot prevent or penalize a worker for using this tool. And if DoorDash tries, we will fast-track any retaliation case to get that worker reinstated.”
“To any corporation that has built a business model on greedy algorithms and worker exploitation, consider this your notice. If you keep trying to rip off New Yorkers, we will be happy to make history again. This is NYC, where hard work pays and greed will cost you.”
Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my weekly live podcast Uncovered at 4 ET where we do a deep dive into the top stories of the week. If you missed yesterday’s Ask the Editor show that is here. Yesterday’s Bulletin is here.
… From Trump’s UN speech:
"I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again. Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival
