Whitehouse: I Think McConnell Gave Collins a ‘Hall Pass’ on Witnesses to Help Her Electoral Prospects

During MSNBC’s impeachment coverage on Thursday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that he thinks Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced her support for additional witnesses and documents in the Senate’s impeachment trial because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave her a “hall pass” to vote against Senate leadership without swinging the final outcome to give her the best shot at re-election.

Whitehouse said, “Well, one of the things that Mitch McConnell has to do to manage his caucus and to give his members the best chance of re-election is to give them what we refer to as a hall pass. Which is permission to vote against the leadership, but never in numbers sufficient enough to affect the outcome. And the people who are in the greatest harm or most urgently need the hall pass are the ones who get it. And that, I think, is what you see, when you look at this performance tonight.”

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