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Mainers gather for 'Reject the Coverup' rally


In Maine, and across the country, activists gathered in several "Reject the Coverup” rallies Wednesday. (WGME)
In Maine, and across the country, activists gathered in several "Reject the Coverup” rallies Wednesday. (WGME)
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PORTLAND (WGME) – Senator Susan Collins is getting her fair share of blowback Wednesday night over her impeachment vote, with Maine voters calling the acquittal a "cover-up."

They joined in rallies in Portland, Bangor and across the country.

Demonstrators were out Wednesday night because they say the acquittal of President Trump is not an exoneration, but a cover-up of his abuse of power.

"He covered it up and the republicans just let him do it,” Susan Payne of Cape Elizabeth said. “I think it's a terrible precedent for our democracy."

Demonstrators say it's a cover-up in part because the senate voted to block any new evidence, and voted to block witnesses, and the White House blocked any release of documents.

They say they've lost trust in the senate and in the president.

"He can now hide every witness and every document from us, and we won't know what's going on," Margo Donnis of South Portland said.

Some said the impeachment trial in the senate was a waste of time.

“The fact that the argument was made by Trump’s lawyers that as long as he did something that he thought was in the interest of getting him elected, and thus that was the interest of the country, is a fair thing, to me that is a direct violation of the Constitution,” Gwendolyn Forrest of Portland said.

Though the president and the senate at-large were the main targets of Wednesday night's rally in Portland, demonstrators also shared their frustrations over Senator Susan Collins.

Part of their anger is about her vote to acquit, and they're angry how she justified it, saying President Trump has learned his lesson.

"When they said to him, 'Susan Collins said you've learned your lesson,' he said, 'No, what I did was perfect.' So he has not learned his lesson," Payne said.

This was just one of at least 160 rallies organized Wednesday across the country.

There were also rallies in Brunswick, Bangor and Belfast.

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