Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Sunday said there is “no doubt” former President Donald Trump instigated the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, making her one of just a handful of Republicans still willing to highlight Trump’s culpability in the incident.
Collins said during a CNN State of the Union appearance that Trump “helped instigate and motivate” the rioters, noting that she voted to convict Trump for inciting the attack at his second impeachment trial in February.
The comments echo testimony from four law enforcement officers during a Jan. 6 select committee hearing on Tuesday in which several pointed to Trump as the primary culprit and asked the panel to investigate the role he and his allies played in the attack.
Collins also took aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her refusal to seat Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on the select committee, calling the panel “partisan” and stating “I do not think it was right” for Pelosi to do that.
Pelosi has cited “ridiculous” statements and actions by Jordan and Banks, who indicated they planned to be the panel’s right-wing bomb-throwers, as well as the fact that Jordan’s call with Trump on Jan. 6 might make him a material witness – though Collins said, “Well, there were many communications with President Trump that day.”
Collins reiterated her support for a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission to investigate the attack, though host Jake Tapper noted it was her leader, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who led 35 of his members to block the commission in May.
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