Hawaiian naval firm filled South Carolina politicians’ campaign coffers and won federal contracts in the state

Published October 20, 2026 9:53AM (EDT)

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., holds up a hat that reads "Trump 2028" during an event at the Kennedy Center on August 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on ProPublica .

On March 3, 2020, Sen. Lindsey Graham walked into a private dining room at Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington, D.C. Graham’s time was expensive. He was meeting with two executives and a lobbyist from a Hawaiian naval defense contractor called Navatek. And he had required them to commit to $40,000 in campaign contributions for a 45-minute meeting.

Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, was confident that was all the time he needed.

“Shoot all he has to really do is stop by and say ‘yes,’” Kao wrote to a Navatek lobbyist and a fellow executive the day before, in an email seen by ProPublica. “That should only take a minute and he’s on his way.…