Legal expert calls Susan Collins statement on Bolton 'weak tea' — and drops impeachment bombshell: Chief Justice can issue subpoenas
Former American Constitution Society president Caroline Fredrickson has some harsh words for U.S. Senator Susan Collins over the Maine Republican lawmaker’s statement on the John Bolton bombshell. Fredrickson also dropped a bombshell of her own, about the powers of the Chief Justice during an impeachment trial.
“It’s less than weak tea, it’s not even water,” Fredrickson said on MSNBC Monday morning. She was referring to Collins’ remarks on news Bolton’s unpublished book reveals Trump personally told the former National Security Advisor in August that he wanted to continue to withhold aid to Ukraine to extort that country into producing “dirt” on Joe Biden.
Collins, once thought of as a moderate, is now the most unpopular Senator in the country and facing a trough re-election. Her swings to the right and slight appearances to the left have decimated her credibility among Maine voters.
“The reports about John Bolton’s book strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues,” Collins said in a statement late Monday morning.
My statement on Bolton developments. https://t.co/3M59J7suts— Sen. Susan Collins (@Sen. Susan Collins) 1580140152
Fredrickson also revealed to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that during an impeachment trial in the Senate the Chief Justice can issue subpoenas himself.
“In an impeachment trial executive privilege shouldn’t have weight at all,” she told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who was anchoring the 11 AM hour.
Matthews asked if Chief Justice John Roberts can “subpoena the documents,” referring toi the unpublished Bolton manuscript.
“He can. Under the rules of the Senate that pertain to impeachment hearings,” she explained, the Chief Justice “has the absolute power to do so.”
