Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said this week that she is “open” to having witnesses testify in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, but did not specify if anyone in particular should be heard from, The Hill reports.
"I am open to witnesses. I think it's premature to decide who should be called until we see the evidence that is presented and get the answers to the questions that we senators can submit through the Chief Justice to both sides," Collins said in an interview with Maine Public Radio on Monday, after she was asked whether acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney or former national security adviser John Bolton should be called to testify.
She added in a separate interview with WCSH that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ought to model the upcoming impeachment trial on former President Bill Clinton’s, which Collins served in the Senate during.
Collins noted that the Senate voted unanimously to pass a resolution that spelled out the rules and process for the impeachment trial, and that a second resolution on witness depositions ended up splitting the chamber by party.
"We then had a vote on whether or not we needed further information, and we decided to depose three witnesses. So they did not testify in person, but they were deposed by both sides, and that was a valuable way to proceed in that trial," the senator said.