Susan Collins collected payments she knew were illegal. On Tuesday, ProPublica published an investigation into the senior senator from Maine’s relationship with Martin Kao, the former Navatek CEO and a major donor who told law enforcement he exchanged campaign cash for government contracts. His confession came after his guilty plea for campaign finance and loan fraud.

In other news, the sky is blue and the wind is windy.

The most alarming thing about this is that Trump fired the investigators who were circling Collins and instead put her in his pocket forever.

Remember that scene between Tom Hagen and Senator Geary in Godfather II?

• The Setup: Senator Geary previously tried to extort the Corleone family for a massive payment and insulting them, believing he held all the political power.

• The Trap: The Corleones arrange for Geary to wake up in a blood-soaked hotel room with a dead sex worker, having been drugged and framed without his immediate awareness.

• The Threat: Tom Hagen arrives to clean up the situation. He shows Geary that the family's enforcer, Al Neri, is already taking care of the evidence.

• The Line: With Geary now completely compromised, terrified, and placed entirely in the family's debt, Hagen coldly remarks that any transactional demands or disputes are gone — "All that remains is our friendship."

It is a chilling display of absolute power, masking blackmail as a personal favor.

Wondering why Congress doesn't fight back against an administration usurping its prerogatives and neutering its oversight function?Collins sits at the head of the formerly-mighty Appropriations Committee, and freezes whenever the White House calls.

All in all, she's just another dirty brick in the wall, and it's long past time for her to go.

propublica.org - Debunking susan collins FBI navatek investigation claims