Two decades ago, Senator Susan Collins set a standard of including witnesses and evidence to ensure that the Senate was able to “get to the truth” in the last impeachment trial. Last night, Collins announced that she will be voting to block witnesses and evidence at the beginning of the Trump impeachment trial and would only say that it is “likely” she will vote to include witnesses at a later point.
By voting to move forward with Mitch McConnell’s cover-up, Senator Collins is allowing Trump to continue blocking documents from Congress and failing to guarantee testimony from key witnesses including John Bolton.
Unlike the 1999 impeachment, there has been no cooperation from the administration and no bipartisan agreement on rules, but Collins is establishing a pattern of willful blindness and ignoring important context to justify her continued support for McConnell’s sham trial.
“Senator Collins cannot claim to be committed to a fair trial while voting against the inclusion of critical documents and witnesses from the beginning,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “By supporting McConnell’s cover-up, she has abandoned the pretense of impartiality and failed to meet the standard that she set in the last impeachment.”
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