Top Republican Senator Hints At Breaking Away From McConnell On Impeachment Trial

Trump is going to throw a fit.


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574 points

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) turned heads when he admitted that he wouldn’t be an impartial juror in Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial and further added that he was coordinating with the White House. That basically means a juror will be coordinating with the defendant in a trial, making it an unfair process. Two Republicans have stepped forward to express concern over McConnell’s remarks.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, following the latter Republican’s remarks earlier this month in which she said she was “disturbed” that the Senate Majority Leader said he was coordinating with the White House. Disturbed is a start but she should be alarmed.

Collins criticized Sens. Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Warren by name for their comments before the trial has even begun, according to NBC News. However, there is a big difference in that McConnell is coordinating with the newly impeached “president,” but OK.

Collins, who faces a tough re-election next year, said that it was “inappropriate” for McConnell to say he was working in “total coordination” with the White House, then she went on to both sides her thoughts by saying the Democrats are prejudging the process.

“It is inappropriate, in my judgment, for senators on either side of the aisle to prejudge the evidence before they have heard what is presented to us because the each of us will take an oath, an oath that I take very seriously, to render impartial justice,” Collins said in an interview.

“I have heard Democrats like Elizabeth Warren saying that the president should be impeached, found guilty and removed from office,” she continued to say. “I’ve heard the Senate Majority Leader saying that he’s taking his cues from the White House. There are senators on both sides of the aisle, who, to me, are not giving the appearance of and the reality of judging that’s in an impartial way.”

Collins did more than just furrow her brows, though, as she said she is “open” to calling witnesses in the Senate trial but she didn’t clarify as to which administration officials should be put under oath.

“I am open to witnesses,” she said. “I think it’s premature to decide who should be called until we see the evidence that is presented and get the answers to the questions that we senators can submit through the Chief Justice to both sides,” Collins when asked if key White House officials, such as acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, should appear as witnesses, the New York Times reports.

So, Collins furrowed her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. Put up or shut up, Susan, since Trump’s people have already defied subpoenas.

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