AUGUSTA – Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says she’s open to voting for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over Republican frontrunner Donald Trump – but admits it’s unlikely.
Collins made the comment in a tweet posted Thursday, days after she called on Trump to apologize for questioning the credibility of the federal judge of Mexican heritage presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University.
NEWS: GOP Senator Susan Collins tells me she is leaving open the possibility of supporting Hillary Clinton over Trump.
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) June 9, 2016
.@RyanLizza Just to be clear, as Senator Collins said, it is “unlikely” that she would vote for Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/XGJdABQvQl
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 9, 2016
The senator says Trump’s comments were “absolutely unacceptable” and demonstrated “a lack of respect for the judicial system and the principle of separation of powers.”
Trump has since said his comments were “misconstrued.”
Collins’s tweet followed her interview with The New Yorker about her openness to voting for Clinton.
But Collins has criticized Clinton, too, and has stopped short of disavowing Trump or refusing to vote for him.
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