Sen. Susan Collins has received multiple threatening voice messages as she prepares to vote on whether the Senate will call witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial of President Trump.
The messages, some vulgar and profane, accuse Collins of being a shill for Trump and betraying her oath to uphold the Constitution.
“What a vile piece of garbage you are,” one caller said. “You’ve seen exactly what the president did … If you don’t have the guts and the integrity, I sure hope you didn’t breed. I sure hope you don’t have children or grandchildren because their future is f—ed.”
Collins, who represents Maine, is up for reelection this fall.
“You’re going to lose Susan Collins,” another caller said. “You’re just a little bitch for Trump.”
Other critics mocked Collins and said she lacks morality.
“Are you in some kind of satanic cult,” one angry caller said. “I don’t understand why you’re doing the devil’s work.”
Collins has not indicated if she would vote for or against witnesses to be called in the trial, only saying that she assumes that having additional witnesses “would be helpful.”
My statement on the start of the impeachment trial: https://t.co/oRp9jZ3CbR pic.twitter.com/QxDiCTzxub
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) January 21, 2020
Collins is one of four moderate Republicans whom Democrats are seeking to convince to break with Trump and support witness testimony in the trial. A vote on the matter is expected Friday.
The top witness Democrats seek is John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser. In a new book set to be released later this year, Bolton claims the president discussed a freeze on military aid to Ukraine with him.
House impeachment managers argue this is a clear example of Trump’s corrupt conduct.
Collins found herself at the center of a similar partisan battle in the runup to a razor-thin Senate vote late 2018 during the Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“I mean, it’s not fun,” Collins told the New York Times after she received death threats during that stretch of several days. “Death threats are not fun. Protests are not fun. Being mobbed — sorry, I know the media hates that word — being mobbed when I go to vote. I do not enjoy that at all. I find that exhausting.”
Collins eventually sided with Trump and voted to confirm Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the bench.
