Maine's senior Senator, Republican Susan Collins, trended on Twitter Wednesday.
But with the reason why, Collins' 2020 senatorial campaign probably wished she hadn't.
Senator Collins previously claimed she was open to new evidence and to witnesses for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. But her response to actual new evidence presented earlier this week makes her prior words ring hollow.
When asked about the new, damning evidence from Lev Parnas regarding Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and other members of the Trump camp, Collins stated:
"I wonder why the House did not put that into the record, and it's only now being revealed."
After the source of the evidence and the fact it was unavailable previously was repeated to Collins, she responded:
"Well, doesn't that suggest that the House did an incomplete job then?"
CNN decided to fact check Collins' objections to the evidence presented via Lev Parnas.
They found:
"Collins ignored critical context about Parnas' legal situation, which made it difficult for him to quickly comply with the House subpoena."
"Her comments suggest she is either confused, unaware of the relevant facts, or intentionally ignoring them to ding the Democrats."
"There is a reasonable explanation why the new material is only coming out now."
Parnas was arrested for campaign finance violations on October 9.
In September, former Trump attorney John Dowd served as Parnas' attorney. Dowd refused House Democrats' request for information from Parnas, calling it inappropriate.
As part of his arrest, those relevant documents Democrats requested and his electronic devices were seized. On the day after his request, a formal subpoena was issued to Parnas by the House.
A federal judge finally cleared Parnas to comply with the House request for documents and his electronic device records.
Senator Collins is either unaware of what is happening around her, related to her job, or being deceitful in her response to the new evidence.
Neither played well with the public.
Especially considering Collins made the case for additional evidence when considering the trial of President Bill Clinton who was eventually acquitted.
Video of her asking for all relevant evidence, even if it was not part of the House impeachment process resurfaced online as a result.
This is not the first time Collins has said one thing while doing the opposite.
And many people pointed this out regarding her latest about face and potential future ones.
Photos of a truck that was reportedly parked in front of the home of author Stephen King in Bangor, Maine made the rounds on social media.
King's down the street neighbor is Senator Susan Collins.
In response to all the backlash, Senator Collins issued a response on Thursday claiming she had been misunderstood and mischaracterized.
But her response failed to change people's minds based on her prior comments.
After all, characterization is based on observable behaviors. And there is plenty of evidence of Collins doing whatever the GOP leadership tells her to do, regardless of what she said she would do.
Susan Collins is up for reelection in 2020. Her Democratic opponent will be decided in March during the Maine Democratic primaries. Currently, Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon and activist and political organizer Betsy Sweet are the Democratic frontrunners looking to challenge Collins in November.
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