Last week, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was widely ridiculed for saying she believed President Donald Trump had learned a “lesson” from his impeachment saga. She later admitted that she may have been wrong, explaining that she should have used the word “hopes” instead of “believes.”
Well, on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, a reporter finally asked the president if he learned anything from the ordeal.
“Some Republicans have said they hoped you would learn a lesson from impeachment,” NBC News’ Peter Alexander said. “What lesson did you learn from impeachment?”
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The answer is unlikely to satisfy the Republican senator who will face Maine voters this fall.
Without a second of hesitation, Trump replied, “Uh, that the Democrats are crooked, they’ve got a lot of crooked things going. That they’re vicious. That they shouldn’t have brought impeachment. And that my poll numbers are 10 points higher because of fake news like NBC, which reports the news very inaccurately—probably more inaccurately than CNN if that’s possible.”
After taking one more shot at the network he now likes to call “MSDNC,” Trump kicked the press out of the room.
Earlier in the day, CNN’s Manu Raju cornered Collins outside of her Senate office and asked—in light of the president’s actions regarding Roger Stone and the impeachment witnesses—if she still thinks there are any “lessons” Trump has learned from the experience.
After reiterating that she doesn’t think anyone should be “retaliated against,” Collins defended her vote to acquit, saying his actions “did not meet the high bar established in the Constitution for the immediate ouster of a duly elected president.”
Raju asked Collins twice more what lessons she thinks Trump has learned before she shut the door in his face.
