Collins reacts to angry voicemails in response to acquittal vote

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Wednesday responded to angry voicemails left for her in response to her vote to acquit President Trump.

Fox News’s Martha MacCallum played the Maine senator two voicemails that used expletives to express their displeasure with her decision.

“Wow. What a vile piece of garbage you are, Susan Collins. … I sure hope you didn’t breed,” one voicemail said. “I sure hope you don’t have children or grandchildren because their future is [expletive].”

“You are a traitor traitor that you support people like Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” it continued. 

Another voicemail said, “You’re going to lose, Susan Collins. You’re going to lose. You’re just a little [expletive] for Donald Trump.”

“This is a continuation of the kind of abuse and harassment that has occurred for my staff, my family and me since my vote for Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh,” Collins responded on “The Story With Martha MacCallum.” 

“And I think it’s a sad commentary that we can’t have differences of opinion without resorting to profanity to death threats to vile language,” she added. “And yet it seems we lost the ability in this country to disagree respectfully.”

Collins, who is up for reelection this year, said Tuesday that it was “wrong” for President Trump to discuss former Vice President Joe Biden on his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But she said the House did not take all the necessary steps to prove the president committed a crime to justify removal from office.

The Senate ended up acquitting Trump of both articles of impeachment Wednesday, mainly along partisan lines, with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) straying from the GOP in his vote to convict Trump for abuse of power.