Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she has not decided how she will vote on the impeachment case against former President Donald Trump, but says the videos of the Jan. 6 insurrection shown at the trial have been haunting.
Collins says the videos presented by the House managers brought back the horror of that day and demonstrated the intent of the rioters to disrupt the process of certifying the electoral college votes, at any cost.
“It reminded me of how determined the rioters were to disrupt us from doing our constitutional duty,” she says.
Collins says the video from surveillance cameras was particularly disturbing, as it revealed how close the rioters came to attacking members of Congress as they were being evacuated to a safe area of the Capitol.
“It’s haunting to hear the rioters chanting, ‘Hang that Mike Pence,’ when Mike Pence was simply fulfilling his constitutional obligation,” she says.
Collins says the House managers did a good job presenting their case to the Senate, but wants to hear the totality of the proceedings before deciding how to vote.
“I have had the misfortune to be involved in three of the impeachment trials in our nation’s history — there have only been four. And this one is particularly strange because we are not only the jury and judge as the Constitution sets forth, we were also witnesses,” she says.
