What Changed Susan? “Susan Collins Should Listen To Susan Collins From 1998”

Collins Said Then: “I Need Witnesses and Further Evidence” — But Last Night, She Voted to Block Every Subpoena for Key Documents and for Witnesses with Direct Knowledge of the President’s Conduct

New Poll: 71 Percent of Mainers Believe Senators Should “Insist” on Seeing Documents and Calling Witnesses

Senator Susan Collins is under mounting scrutiny as she refuses to meet the same standards she set for impeachment two decades ago. Last night, Senator Collins voted to block every single subpoena for key documents and testimony from witnesses, despite the “overwhelming majority of Mainers” wanting to see all the facts.

As Senator Collins continues to oppose efforts to uncover the truth, she should take another look at what she said about the need for witnesses and evidence in the impeachment process two decades ago.

Read more about how Senator Collins is ignoring her own words, and the demands of Mainers, as she refuses to live up to the standard she set in 1999:

The Hill: Majority of Maine voters say Trump abused power: poll

• Among independent voters, a key group for Collins, 57 percent said Trump is guilty of abusing the power of his office compared to 36 percent who did not, based on the poll. 

• Additionally, the poll found that 71 percent of Maine voters surveyed said that senators should “insist” on seeing documents and calling witnesses as part of the trial, and just 23 percent said that is not important. 

• The Senate voted 53-47 Tuesday on a rules resolution for the Senate impeachment trial, with Collins voting along party lines.

• Democrats were unsuccessful in their attempt to get language added that would have included a deal at the beginning of the trial on witnesses and documents related to the delayed Ukraine aid.

Portland Press Herald: Our View: Sen. Susan Collins should demand to see all the evidence

• On which side will Sen. Susan Collins land – cover-up or trial?

• Maine’s senior senator… has not demanded that they be called, as she did in 1999, when Democrat Bill Clinton had been impeached by the House. Back then, she said, “I need witnesses and further evidence to guide me to the right destination, to get to the truth.”

• Her current position is troubling, because unless some Republicans break ranks, this will be a cover-up, not a trial.

• At the very least, senators should demand to see all the evidence and listen to every witness before voting on whether Trump should continue in office.

• But last week, Collins appeared to dismiss the idea of opening the record to new information, telling CNN that the new revelations showed that the House had done an “incomplete job.”

• That sounds like an argument for a trial that closes the books on new evidence, no matter how relevant it is to the matter at hand. That sounds like the justification of a cover-up.

The DSCC launched WhatChangedSusan.com to highlight Senator Collins’ alignment with Mitch McConnell and refusal to set the same standards for a fair impeachment process that she did in 1999. WhatChangedSusan.com will be updated regularly as the impeachment process unfolds. 

Read this release at WhatChangedSusan.com.

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