Sen. Susan Collins didn’t ‘cover up’ Epstein files or get $3 million from Epstein ‘business partner’

An ad accuses Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, of opposing the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender at the center of multiple midterm attacks.

In the Sept. 24 ad, a woman identified only as “Debbie” says, “As a retired junior high teacher, I’m horrified. Susan Collins voted to cover up the Epstein files. She knew 14-year-old girls were raped.” The ad then shows a photo of Collins next to a photo of President Donald Trump and Epstein.

The ad continues: “Turns out that Jeffrey Epstein’s business partner funneled $3 million” to Collins’ super PAC.

The ad is from WinSenate, a super political action committee linked to Democrat-affiliated Senate Majority PAC. A super PAC is a political action committee that can spend unlimited amounts of money to campaign for federal candidates. On Nov. 3, Collins will face Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, a former Maine state senator.

The ad misleads about both Collins’ position on releasing the Epstein files and the PAC donor.

Ad cherry-picks Collins’ voting record

The ad cites a Sept. 10, 2025, vote on an amendment to a defense authorization bill, directing the attorney general to release Epstein investigative files. Collins joined most of her Republican colleagues voting in favor of a motion to table the amendment, essentially blocking it, which passed 51-49. 

The amendment “does not belong on the Department of Defense policy bill,” Collins said at the time.

However, she said she previously supported a similar provision in a funding bill.

A few months earlier, during a July 10, 2025, Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that Collins chaired, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., proposed an amendment to a funding bill, directing the attorney general to “retain, preserve and compile” all Epstein files and report the findings to lawmakers within 60 days. The committee unanimously voted in favor.

The funding bill stalled in the Senate.

But pressure on Congress and Trump to release the files grew. After undermining efforts to release them, Trump that fall directed lawmakers to pass such a measure.

On Nov. 18, 2025, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House 427-1 and then passed the Senate via unanimous consent. 

“This is an important step for the survivors of these heinous crimes,” Collins said after the vote.

Super PAC donor was a member of same club as Epstein

The ad doesn’t name the PAC donor, but the donation dates cited in the ad match donations by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman. He donated a combined $3 million to Pine Tree Results PAC, a pro-Collins group, in 2025 and 2026.

Schwarzman’s tie to Epstein is weak; we found no evidence they were business partners. Both men were early members of the Core Club in New York City. A club spokesperson told The Real Deal that Epstein paid $100,000 as a founding member alongside 150 other investors.

We asked Lauren French, a spokesperson for WinSenate, for information showing that Schwarzman and Epstein were business partners. 

“Being founders of the same exclusive club inherently makes individuals partners in business,” French said.

When the club launched in 2005, The New York Times described it as a “place for a geographically and socially diverse set of wealthy people to gather and meet others of the same disparate tribe.” Its membership list included high-profile people in politics, real estate, the arts and sports.

The Wall Street Journal, The Real Deal and the Daily Beast reported that Schwarzman was also a member in their stories about the club, but none said he and Epstein were business partners.

Blackstone spokesperson Thomas Clements told PolitiFact in an email, “It would be categorically false and reckless to claim or imply that Steve had any relationship with this despicable individual.” 

Schwarzman’s name appears in the Epstein files, but we found no evidence there or elsewhere that they were business partners. For example, the file showed an invitation to Epstein to a 2015 cocktail party at Schwarzman’s home to celebrate the release of a movie, “The Imitation Game,” which Schwarzman’s son produced. Clements said a public relations firm working with the film distributors invited Epstein, and he did not attend.

RELATED: The Epstein midterms: Why the deceased felon appears in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, MA Senate attacks

Our ruling

A WinSenate ad said, “Susan Collins voted to cover up the Epstein files” and Epstein’s “business partner funneled $3 million” to a Collins super PAC.

Collins voted against a September 2025 amendment to release the Epstein files, saying it didn’t belong in the defense spending bill to which it was attached. A few months earlier, the Senate appropriations committee which she chairs unanimously voted to direct the Justice Department to preserve Epstein files and provide a report to lawmakers.

In November 2025, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to release the Epstein files and Collins praised that action.

Schwarzman, who donated to a pro-Collins PAC in 2025 and 2026, was one of the early members of an exclusive New York City club along with Epstein. But we found no evidence the two were business partners. 

We rate this statement False.

RELATED: All of our fact-checks related to Jeffrey Epstein