Republican Sen. Susan Collins thinks President Trump made a “big mistake” by telling China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in investigating a political opponent,” Collins told Bangor Daily News on Saturday after a firefighters memorial service. “It’s completely inappropriate.”
The senator from Maine joined two of her GOP colleagues in admonishing the president for his suggestion, including Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Additionally, Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas also criticized Trump for the move.
“Well, I would think that, if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens,” Trump told reporters Thursday of Ukraine. “It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens because how does a company that’s newly formed and all these companies, if you look at — and by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens.”
The younger Biden has connections to Patrick Ho, a high-ranking Chinese businessman who was charged by the Justice Department with global corruption and bribery in 2017.
Trump’s comments came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry in response to a whistleblower complaint, which alleged that he attempted engage in a quid pro quo during a July phone call with the president of Ukraine by asking the country to investigate the 2020 Democratic front-runner and his son for corruption in exchange for military aid.
While Collins did not weigh in on the evidence gathered so far in the inquiry, she did express hope that the impeachment process “will be done with the seriousness that any impeachment proceeding deserves.”
“Should the articles of impeachment come to the Senate — and right now I’m going to guess that they will — I will be acting as a juror as I did in the Clinton impeachment trial,” she said.
She also slammed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, saying he “misrepresented and misled people about what was in the transcript in the call” when he read a summarization of Trump’s phone call to Congress. Schiff has pushed back on criticism from Republicans by insisting his rendition was “at least in part parody.”
The president has yet to respond to Collins’ criticism, but he spent Saturday lashing out at Romney, calling him a “pompous ass” and even suggesting he should be impeached.
On Friday, House Democrats subpoenaed both the White House and Vice President Mike Pence for Ukraine-related documents. President Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly insisted no wrongdoing on his part.
