Senator Collins Said the President “Learned” From Impeachment But Trump — And Everyone Else — Disagrees

Hours After Senator Collins Claimed He Learned a “Pretty Big Lesson,” Trump Himself “Insisted He Had Done Nothing Wrong”

Yesterday Senator Susan Collins offered an inexplicable excuse for deciding to acquit the president, saying he had learned a “pretty big lesson” from impeachment. But just hours later, when asked directly about her claim, Trump himself “insisted he had done nothing wrong.” Report after report has undermined Senator Collins’ statement — exposing her position as another political calculation following her 12 votes to block subpoenas for witness testimony and documents, a reversal from her stance in 1999 when she demanded to see all the evidence. 

Here’s what they’re saying about Senator Collins’ inexplicable claim that Trump learned a lesson from Republicans’ cover-up:

• Bangor Daily News: It looks unlikely Trump will apologize for his ‘perfect phone call’ as Susan Collins suggested

• Washington Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor: No, Susan Collins, Trump is never going to learn 

• Bangor Daily News: “[Collins] said that she believed the president would not seek foreign assistance again, saying Trump had ‘learned from this case’ and that impeachment was ‘a pretty big lesson.’ Trump has long described his phone call with the Ukrainian president as a ‘perfect phone call,’ a characterization that he repeated in a tweet last month and in an off-the-record briefing with news anchors on Wednesday as reported by The Washington Post after being informed of Collins’ comments.”

• Washington Post: “In a lunch with news anchors Tuesday, Trump was asked about Collins’s contention that he had learned a lesson during impeachment. The president insisted that he had done nothing wrong: ‘It was a perfect call.’”

• CNN Analysis: Susan Collins’ beyond-laughable explanation for her impeachment vote

• Maine Public: “During an interview with CBS News, Collins said she believes the president has learned from impeachment… Trump has insisted that he has done nothing wrong and that his impeachment was unfair.”

• HuffPost: “GOP Sen. Susan Collins: It ‘Would Be Helpful’ If Trump Apologized; On hearing of the Maine Republican’s remarks, the president indicated he does not intend to do so.”

• Washington Post: Susan Collins says Trump will be ‘much more cautious’ after impeachment. The evidence suggests otherwise.

• Axios: “Collins said in an interview with The CBS Evening News that she believes Trump has ‘learned his lesson’ about seeking foreign election interference, despite the president’s continued insistence that he did nothing wrong.”

• Washington Post: “In the case of his interactions with Ukraine, Trump has shown no public contrition at all. In fact, he’s said on 75 separate occasions since questions about his interactions first arose that he did ‘nothing wrong’ at all. Twelve of those occasions came after he had actually been impeached — after he would have learned the lesson that Collins assumes he has learned. You may judge for yourself whether it seems as though Collins’s confidence in Trump is warranted.”

• Vox: “Collins’s rationale was hard to buy to begin with. And as if on cue, Trump told reporters during an off-the-record lunch on Tuesday that, indeed, he doesn’t feel he has any lessons to learn from getting impeached.”

• The Week: Trump quickly disagreed with Susan Collins that he learned his lesson from impeachment

Polling shows that the “overwhelming majority of Mainers” wanted to see the evidence and direct testimony Senator Collins voted to block. After she refused to meet her own standard for impeachment from two decades ago, a majority of Mainers now believe Senator Collins’ vote to acquit is not because she is doing what’s right, but “because she is following a party line and doing what she believes is in her own political interest.”

###