WASHINGTON _ A few weeks ago, when a series of women first stepped forward to accuse Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, Republican senators said confidently that if he won the Senate seat from Alabama for which he is running, they would expel him.
Now, with the Alabama election less than two weeks away, second thoughts have begun setting in.
Republican senators continue to say that they would subject Moore, a fellow Republican, to an Ethics Committee investigation. But questions are mounting about whether it would be appropriate for the Senate to oust Moore over allegations that were known to voters before the election.
Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine became the latest Republican to voice those doubts.
"I never endorsed Roy Moore," Collins said at a breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. She had opposed Moore even before the recent allegations because of his history, which included defying U.S. Supreme Court rulings, she noted.
But "if the voters of a state, fully knowing these allegations ... nevertheless choose to elect Roy Moore, is it appropriate for the Senate to expel him?"
That's a "very difficult question," Collins said.
Expulsion would require a two-thirds vote of the Senate.
