Trump says US will deal with Greenland ‘easy way’ or ‘hard way
Trump dials Collins with ‘profanity-laced rant’ over Venezuela war powers vote
President Trump on Thursday laid into Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) with a “profanity-laced” phone call after she supported a Democratic-led war powers resolution over his actions in Venezuela.
According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela.
“He called her and then basically read her the riot act,” one Senate GOP member told The Hill, describing it as a “profanity-laced rant” on Trump’s end.
The GOP member also noted that the call came “out of the blue” as the two do not talk frequently.
A second source familiar with the call said Trump told Collins that the resolution, which passed, 52-47, was limiting his ability to do his job as commander-in-chief.
“He was very mad about the vote,” the source said. “Very mad. Very hot.”
A Collins spokesperson declined to comment. The Hill reached out to the White House with a request for comment.
Trump followed up the vote by posting on TruthSocial that Collins and the four other Senate Republicans who backed discharging the resolution — Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) — “should never be elected to office again.”
“Republicans should be ashamed of the senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump posted. “This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief.”
Collins is widely considered the most vulnerable Republican incumbent up for reelection in November.
She fired back at Trump’s criticism to reporters shortly after, saying that it means he “would prefer to have” one of her potential general election opponents in the seat.
“The president obviously is unhappy with the vote. I guess this means that he would prefer to have Gov. Mills or somebody else with whom he’s not had a great relationship. I don’t know, I’m just not going to comment,” Collins told reporters when asked about Trump’s sharp criticism.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and progressive candidate, are vying for the Democratic nod.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) noted that Trump was “fired up” in a phone call just prior to Thursday’s vote. The Republican leader also told reporters following the tally that his social media remarks were “a short-term, immediate reaction to something he felt strongly about.”
The US is “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”, Donald Trump has said.
The US president said on Friday he had to act or else “Russia or China will take over Greenland”, stepping up his threats about acquiring the Danish administered territory.
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