WASHINGTON — “I want him out.”
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski had strong words for President Donald Trump Friday as she spoke to the Anchorage Daily News.
“I think he should leave. He said he’s not going to show up. He’s not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn’t want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego,” she told the paper.
Murkowski’s comments come as a growing number of lawmakers and leaders look into ways of removing Trump from office or curtailing his powers, including a second impeachment of Trump, or by invoking the 25th Amendment.
The calls for Trump’s removal came quickly after Wednesday’s siege on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump supporters. Trump issued statements on Twitter throughout and after the violent protests, repeating his claims of voter fraud, of not accepting the election results, and telling supporters at the Capitol “we love you.”
The Alaska senator pointed out that the president refused to commit to accept the election results before the November Presidential Election.
Even after lawsuits and appeals failed, and the vice president told him he didn’t have the authority to stop the Electoral College vote count, the president still told his supporters at a rally on Wednesday to fight, and to march to the Capitol Building.
“How are they supposed to take that? It’s an order from the president,” Murkowski told the paper.
The senator also hinted she may leave the Republican party, depending on how the party moves on from the violence and president’s rhetoric.
“If the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me,” she said.
Murkowski has broken with rank-and-file Republicans in the past, recently she said she did not approve of replacing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat before the election.
Over the summer, after Murkowski said she agreed with an op-ed that was critical of the president, Trump tweeted that he would back any candidate who ran against the senator in 2022.
