USA TODAY is reporting that Senate Republicans are rallying around Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, after an investigative story published by ProPublica laid out evidence of her office's alleged involvement in a pay-to-play scheme involving a defense contractor. It said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, dismissed the story as "a bunch of BS," saying he knows Collins. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, said Collins has the utmost ethical standards and that she has zero concerns about what she called baseless accusations.
USA TODAY said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, vigorously defended Collins, calling the story a political hit job and saying he does not think there was ever any implication that she or her campaign were implicated. It said Collins and her top spokespeople have denied any impropriety, saying the Biden Justice Department cleared her and her congressional staff of any alleged wrongdoing. Collins told a Wall Street Journal opinion columnist she was the victim of a disgraceful smear job, the outlet said.
USA TODAY reported that the issue's effect on Maine voters is hard to say, but it adds to obstacles for Collins in a campaign already weighed down by an unpopular war, trade disputes with Canada and the sudden departure of her initial, scandal-plagued opponent, Graham Platner. Logger Troy Jackson is now on the ticket as the Democratic replacement, it said.
USA TODAY also is reporting that Senate Democrats are preparing one last symbolic rebuke of the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections. It said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, the political architect of the strategy to put Republicans on the record over the conflict, told reporters at the Capitol that he expects enough GOP senators to join them to pass another resolution to end the war. Kaine said the measure would send a political message, showing that for the second time Congress, with two Republican-majority houses, has said the war is illegal and calling for service members to come home, according to the outlet.
Separately, USA TODAY reported that the Supreme Court is deciding once again whether Missouri must use a congressional map drawn at President Donald Trump's urging to give Republicans an additional seat in the midterms. It said the case made its third trip to the high court in recent weeks in an emergency appeal filed late by opponents of the map.