Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) stated on Monday that the preview of revelations from John Bolton’s upcoming book “strengthen the case for witnesses” in the Senate impeachment trial.
The Maine senator released a statement following a New York Times story detailing purported revelations from the former national security adviser’s upcoming memoir, alleging that the president “told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens.” The book became available for pre-order on Amazon.com following the Times’ publication, and Trump has vehemently denied the report.
Collins maintained in a statement on Monday that she has consistently remained open to calling for witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, that is, after hearing opening arguments from both sides.
“From the beginning, I’ve said that in fairness to both parties the decision on whether or not to call witnesses should be made after both the House managers and the President’s attorneys have had the opportunity to present their cases,” she stated.
“I’ve always said that I was likely to vote to call witnesses, just as I did in the 1999 Clinton trial,” she continued, adding, “The reports about John Bolton’s book strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues”:
Indeed, Collins has consistently maintained her belief in conducting Trump’s impeachment trial in the same mold as former President Bill Clinton’s. However, prior to the start of the trial, Collins admittedly worked with a “fairly small group” of GOP senators in an effort to garner support for additional witnesses, stressing that lawmakers should remain “completely open to calling witnesses.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has stood firm in his opposition to calling forth additional witnesses and issued a threat to GOP colleagues who would consider siding with Democrats in calling for witnesses.
“If you vote against Hunter Biden, you’re voting to lose your election, basically. Seriously. That’s what it is,” Paul told Politico this month.
“If you don’t want to vote and you think you’re going to have to vote against Hunter Biden, you should just vote against witnesses, period,” he added.
“If they insist on having people like Bolton coming forward, my insistence will be not just one witness. But that the president should be able to call any witnesses that he deems necessary to his defense,” he stated.
While Collins said Paul’s threat is “not [her] focus,” she agreed with calling for witnesses on both sides.
“If he’s saying that both sides should have an opportunity, I agree with that, to call witnesses,” she stated. “We’ll make the call on which ones.”
“But it isn’t fair to just let one side call witnesses,” she added.
The Maine lawmaker reiterated her position in another statement shortly after, signaling her tendency to favor calling forth witnesses.
“While I need to hear the case argued and the questions answered, I tend to believe having additional information would be helpful,” she wrote.
“It is likely that I would support a motion to call witnesses at that point in the trial just as I did in 1999,” she added.
The Times’ story on Bolton’s upcoming book has also piqued Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) interest. He signaled on Monday that, given the revelations in the book, it would be “important to hear from John Bolton.”
“I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” Romney said. “I’ve spoken with others who’ve opined upon this as well.”
Democrats need four Republicans to join their calls for additional witnesses in order to make it a reality.