Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) broke with her party in a vote to call for additional witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial, but once that effort failed she headed back to her home turf.
Collins on Tuesday said she will join most Republicans in voting to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment, though she did say his actions regarding Ukraine were "improper" and "demonstrated very poor judgment."
As for the first article, abuse of power, she said the House didn't do enough to support its assertion that Trump "will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution" if he stays in office. She went further in explaining her disagreement with the second, obstruction of Congress, arguing the House skipped "the basic steps of judicial adjudication" and jumped straight to impeachment as a "first resort."
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Collins is generally considered one of the more independent Republican senators, so her acquittal vote seemingly diminishes the already-slim chance of a GOP senator voting to convict, especially after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she'll vote the same way Monday. That likely leaves Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — the only other Republican to join Collins in the witness vote — as the only remaining wild card.
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