Senate Democrats launch website hitting Collins on impeachment

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) launched a new website hitting Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) over remarks she made during former President Clinton’s impeachment trial in the late 1990s and questioning her statements about President Trump’s forthcoming impeachment trial in the Senate. 

The website, whatchangedsusan.com, takes aim at Collins’s stance on the need for witness testimony during Clinton’s trial, as well as a number of other factors. 

The Hill was the first outlet to report on the website, which is the DSCC’s first impeachment-related accountability campaign. It is set to run throughout the impeachment process.

The news comes as Collins faces a tough reelection bid in 2020. The DSCC has thrown their support behind Maine state House Speaker Sara Gideon (D), who is considered the frontrunner in the state’s Democratic primary. 

The senator’s campaign spokesman, Kevin Kelley, hit Gideon over what he said was her avoidance of Maine news media. 

“Mainers might also welcome a site that explains where Sara Gideon stands on any issue since, for some reason, she seems to be avoiding Maine press,” Kelley said. 

She ended up voting against Clinton’s impeachment in the Senate in 1999, finding the president not guilty on both counts. 

Collins, along with fellow moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), sided with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) position that the Senate should follow the Clinton trial’s precedent and defer until later in the process the question of calling additional witnesses.

The Maine senator said on Monday that the upper chamber should consider subpoenaing additional witnesses and documents after House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense present their opening arguments. 

“The process moved to a period during which the Senate debated and voted that three witnesses should be deposed. I believe that this process — the Clinton approach — worked well,” Collins told reporters.