As her populist opponent attacks her ties to Wall Street, Rolling Stone has revealed that Maine Sen. Susan Collins got a $2 million donation from a private equity billionaire the day before making a key vote to advance Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
As her populist opponent attacks her ties to Wall Street, Rolling Stone has revealed that Maine Sen. Susan Collins got a $2 million donation from a private equity billionaire the day before making a key vote to advance Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Hmm, this could be significant. The recent batshit crazy SCOTUS ruling that made “gratuities” illegal hinged on the timing of the payment. Basically, they made a distinction between solicitations made to politicians before the act (illegal bribes) vs. Solicitations after the fact (totally legal “gratuities”).
The ruling talks about payments “made or agreed upon” before the act. But simply receiving a payment is now no longer actionable proof of bribery - as long as the payment is timed to come after the act.
Someone here goofed, and sent the payment early. Either by accident, or on purpose to get rid one of the tiny handful of “concerned” Republicans who pretend they are moderate every now and then.