The prospect of a Republican Senate removing President Donald Trump from office is now further away than ever. Just ask Susan Collins.
With special counsel Robert Mueller clearing the president on collusion with Russia and the Justice Department dismissing questions of obstruction of justice, the moderate Maine Republican sees no need for even a discussion of whether to convict the president should he be impeached by the Democratic House.
"He has been exonerated on the issue of conspiracy or coordination with the Russians," Collins said in an interview, adding that she wants to read the full Mueller report and get a classified briefing on the obstruction of justice issue.
She added: "But it seems to me that we have seen no grounds, at all, for impeachment proceedings to be started by the House. When even Speaker Pelosi says that it would not be the right route, I believe that puts it to rest regarding these allegations."
Collins was among more than a dozen Senate Republicans who directly took on the president recently, with many voting to condemn Trump's national emergency declaration and the U.S. role in Yemen's civil war. Those were painful moments for the Senate GOP, testing their loyalty to Trump and forcing him into the first veto of his presidency. Collins opposed Trump on both as she runs for re-election as a party-bucking centrist in Democratic-leaning Maine.
But comments Monday from Collins and other Republicans who have challenged Trump recently underscore just how unlikely it is for now that 20 GOP senators would join Democrats and vote to remove the president — the two-thirds threshold needed to convict.
Forget impeachment, there was barely any enthusiasm for further exploring the Mueller report's findings.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) challenged Trump during the lengthy government shutdown and the president's national emergency declaration. He previously wrote a fiery op-ed denouncing Trump's character. But asked about whether the GOP Senate needed to further probe the obstruction of justice question, Romney said the matter seemed settled because "there was not an underlying crime."
"The American people recognize that if there is no crime, it's hard to suggest that there was obstruction of justice to prevent an investigation in the absence of a crime," Romney said on Monday evening.
And the red wall of opposition to impeachment in the Senate may matter more than anything else: Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made clear she wants no part of a partisan impeachment trial.
And that is exactly what she would get if she began moving forward now.
"If the factual basis has now been factually disproven by Mueller, it should take some wind out of the sails," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former GOP whip. "People have stylistic differences with the way the president runs his business, but in terms of any potential threat of criminal activity, I think everybody's reassured."
"Russia collusion and obstruction of justice, I think those are dead issues," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the GOP's oversight chairman.
And impeachment? "There's no point even talking about it," he replied.
Senate Democrats on Monday largely joined their House counterparts in poking holes in Barr's letter and said Democratic probes must continue in the House. Most in the party continued beating the drum for the release of the full report rather than trying to rebut Barr's summary, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to pass a resolution urging the release of the full document on Monday only to be blocked by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"Whether you're a supporter of President Trump or not … there is no good reason not to make the report public," Schumer said.
Yet McConnell, like most other Republicans, saw little reason to give ground and blocked Schumer's request. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was feeling so good on Monday that he launched a new investigation: of the FBI and Justice Department's handling of the 2016 election and whether they tried to stop Trump from winning.
The question of impeachment is a political one, and the politics have sharply turned against Democrats in a GOP-led Senate that's often wavered between condemning Trump's erratic behavior and controversial comments while also advancing his agenda. Even as Republicans fear new rounds of tariffs and fewer sanctions on North Korea, Barr's memo seemed clarifying for the GOP.
Impeachment "should be off the table. And I think that Democrats in the House would be much better off if they legislate and not investigate," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) who came under fire from conservatives back home for opposing Trump's emergency declaration.
That's not to say Trump's Senate allies aren't still on guard. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) urged the Congress to move on from the Russia investigation because "there's no evidence. None. Zero. Nada." But he also hoped Trump would take the same advice.
"It's over. And I say this gently to the president, I will say: When you get what you want, leave it alone. Don't be a meathead on this," Kennedy said.
Whether Trump would take his advice seemed in doubt on Monday as the GOP launched attacks on the media and Democrats for focusing so much on the Russia investigation. Trump himself on Monday said the whole investigation amounted to a "false narrative, it was a terrible thing."
"Very few people I know could have handled it. We can never ever let this happen to another president again," he said.
And even as she agreed Trump was cleared from the broader collusion charges, Collins was quick to stress that she disagreed with Trump's "inappropriate" attacks on the Mueller probe. She also hasn't endorsed his reelection campaign and hopes Congress investigates disruption efforts launched from Russia, China and Iran on American elections.
But her conclusion after nearly two years of smoke, troubling reports and high drama about Trump is clear: "It's good news for all of America that no presidential candidate was coordinating or conspiring with the Russians."
"I can't imagine why any American would want that to be true," she added. "I'm glad that President Trump has been exonerated."
Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.
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