Alaskan Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski calls on Trump to resign

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, speaks during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing about efforts to reappear during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak June 30 in Washington, DC Work and return to school. 2020.

Al Drago | Pool | Reuters

Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski said Friday that President Donald Trump should resign immediately and offered the toughest reprimand to a senator in Trump’s own party since a crowd of his supporters entered the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

“I want him to resign. I want him to fail. He’s done enough damage,” Murkowski, known in her party as being moderate, told the Anchorage Daily News. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“I think he should go. He said he won’t show up. He won’t show up at the inauguration. He hasn’t focused on what’s going on with Covid,” she added. “He either played golf or was in the Oval Office and infuriated every single person who was loyal to him and threw them under the bus, starting with the vice president.”

“He doesn’t want to stay there. He just wants to stay there for the title. He just wants to stay there for his ego. He has to get out. He has to do the good, but I don’t think He is able to do something good.” said Murkowski.

Murkowski’s comments come as Democrats prepare for an unprecedented second impeachment after the Washington DC uprising and the president’s continued refusal to back down unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud. At least five people died in the attack, fueled by Trump’s lie that the election was stolen from President-elect Joe Biden and the Democrats.

Murkowski said Trump was responsible for the violence.

“I’ll attribute it to the President,” said Murkowski. She noted that even after Pence said he had no power to overthrow the elections, at a rally that preceded the uprising, Trump “still told his supporters to fight”.

“How are you supposed to take it? It’s an order from the President. And that’s how they did it,” Murkowski said. “They came and they fought and people got hurt, hurt and died.”

Murkowski’s comments come as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Senate Minority Chairman Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. prepare for a possible impeachment. Democratic leaders have urged Trump’s cabinet to remove him through the 25th Amendment, but that prospect is unlikely.

Representative David Cicilline, DR.I .; Ted Lieu, D-Calif., And Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Plan to introduce impeachment procedures on Monday, NBC News reported.

So far, only one other Republican senator has even expressed tentative support for impeachment. Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Told CBS on Friday that he “would definitely consider what items they could move”.

“As I told you, I believe that the president disregarded his oath of office … What he did was evil,” said Sasse.

Murkowski did not specifically address the impeachment in the comments published by the Anchorage Daily News. A spokesman for Murkowski did not respond to an email asking for a draft.

In the interview, the Alaska Senator also suggested that she reconsider her membership in the Republican Party.

“I’ll tell you if the Republican Party has become nothing but Trump’s party, I sincerely wonder if this is the party for me,” she said.

The Democrats will take control of the Senate by a marginal 50-50 margin, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to cast groundbreaking votes.

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