LIVING IN LUXURY

Vulnerable GOP Senator Rocked by Lavish Travel Revelations

Susan Collins has been gifted several luxury vacations, totaling tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses.

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Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has racked up tens of thousands in sponsored luxury travel ahead of her brutal battle for reelection in November.

Collins, 73, who is seen as a vulnerable incumbent in the upcoming midterm elections, took five luxury vacations paid for by private special interests during her fifth term in the Senate, according to documents reviewed by the Daily Beast.

Her husband, Thomas Daffron, a former lobbyist, accompanied Collins on three of the trips, including a six-day all-expenses-paid stay in Lake Como, Italy.

Their trip to Italy was paid for by the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit that describes itself as advancing “a free, just, and equitable society.”

They stayed at the Bellagio Center, owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, which is described as a “sprawling 50-acre property located at the heart of Lake Como in Northern Italy.”

Their $12,954 business class flight tickets were paid for, as well as $1,140 in meals over the course of the trip.

The Aspen Institute has brought more than 50 lawmakers to visit the lavish villa since 2023, with their travel and lodging all paid for by the nonprofit.

Collins and her husband also embarked on two different trips at The Cloister, a five-star hotel on Georgia’s private Sea Island.

Both trips were paid for by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. In total, the organization paid $23,269 for the couple to attend conferences both in 2022 and 2023.

Both years, she and her husband attended the Center for Public Integrity, which the American Enterprise Institute World Forum calls a “secretive” event “where industry titans and GOP megadonors [mingle] with mostly Republican power players at an exclusive, ‘off-the-record’ retreat.”

In 2022, Collins and her partner were covered for the two-day, $3,484 trip, and in 2023 they were treated to a $19,785 trip, including a $16,00 waived conference fee as Collins spoke at the event that year.

Collins was also given an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel, gifted to her by the American Israel Education Foundation, an organization affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC.

She and her senior counsel embarked on a six-day, $23,303 trip to the country, where they traveled to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

During the trip, she stayed in luxury properties such as the David Citadel, known as “Jerusalem’s leading luxury hotel,” which averages $402 per night, and the Dan Tel Aviv, a five-star hotel which calls itself “the first luxury hotel to be built in Tel Aviv.”

She was also gifted a one-night stay by the United Nations Foundation to attend a two-day UN trip in New York. That trip totaled $1,181.

Her sponsored travel totaled $64,665 since 2021, a stunning increase in paid-for travel from her first four terms in office, during which she was gifted two trips, totaling $25,394 over the course of 24 years.

It is not exactly uncommon for members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to accept trips of this nature. House members accepted around $4.3 million for airfare, lodging, meals and other travel expenses from private entities over the last decade, according to a 2024 investigation from the Associated Press.

But by contrast, her fellow Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has not embarked on paid-for luxury travel like Collins.

When reached for comment, Collins’ spokeswoman Blake Kernen told the Daily Beast: “Not a single taxpayer dollar was used to pay for these conferences, and each was conducted in full compliance with Senate Ethics rules.”

On her trip to Georgia in 2023, Kernen said, “When Senator Collins attended the event, the war in Ukraine was in focus—President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a briefing.

She also said that Collins’ trip to Israel “was described by organizers as an opportunity” to discuss the issues facing Israel in the Middle East, including Iranian nuclear capabilities, security threats Israel faces, “the opportunities presented by recent peace agreements between Israel and a number of Arab states,“ as well as “the current prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Collins’ luxurious travel ahead of her fifth run for the Senate comes amid heightened scrutiny over her past statements. In resurfaced comments, Collins indicated that she would only run for two terms in the Senate ahead of her first election for the seat.

“If I’m elected, I will only serve two terms, regardless of whether term limits law, constitutional amendment passes or not. Twelve years is long enough to be in public service, make a contribution, and then come home and let someone else take your place,” she said before Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996.

The Maine Senate race is currently labeled a toss-up.

Collins will face first-time candidate Graham Platner, who himself is no stranger to controversy, having been called out for his prior disparaging posts online, an apparent Nazi tattoo, and allegations of mistreatment of past romantic partners.

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