GOP Senator On Donald Trump’s Call For China To Investigate Joe Biden: ‘Completely Inappropriate’
Though a vast majority of Congressional Republicans have either played defense for or remained silent on President Donald Trump’s Ukraine phone call controversy, a small, but growing number of high-profile GOP politicians have gone against the political grain in recent days.
According to The Hill, one of those Republicans is Sen. Susan Collins, who said Trump’s recent call for China to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his family is “completely inappropriate.”
Collins told a Maine newspaper on Saturday that she wasn’t okay with the president’s recent actions.
“I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in investigating a political opponent…. It’s completely inappropriate,” Collins said.
After telling reporters on Thursday that he thinks China should investigate the Bidens, he added that he hasn’t asked China’s president to do so, but that it’s “certainly something we can start thinking about.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Collins’ remarks on the matter came roughly at the same time Utah Sen. Mitt Romney publicly blasted Trump for the same reason. This sparked a fiery tweet-based attack on Republican lawmaker, who has long been a critic of the president. Romney labeled Trump’s call for Chinese interference as “wrong and appalling.”
“I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY,” Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Trump made headlines earlier on Saturday with another series of tweets in which he accused Romney of “begging” for an endorsement for his U.S. Senate run, as well as charging him with begging to be named Secretary of State.
While Collins wasn’t happy with Trump’s call for China to help investigate his likely 2020 political opponent, she also blasted House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, saying he “misrepresented and misled people about what was in the transcript in the call.” Schiff defended his summary of the phone call that took place between Trump and the Ukrainian leader by explaining that it was “partly a parody.”
Schiff, who is at the forefront of the investigation into Trump’s action, is expected to be the target of a censure vote by House Republicans.
So far, there hasn’t been a single Senate Republican who has openly backed Trump’s impeachment inquiry. Collins explained to the Bangor Daily News that should articles of impeachment eventually make it to the U.S. Senate, she will act in her official capacity as a juror, citing her previous experience with former president Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings.
