Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican, said Friday that President Trump should resign, and suggested that she could part ways with the GOP if it has become “the party of Trump.”
“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Ms. Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.
It was the strongest statement so far by a prominent Republican lawmaker in favor of the GOP president leaving office before his term ends on Jan. 20, when President-elect Joseph R. Biden is sworn into office.
“I think he should leave,” she said. “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.”
Asked if she would remain in the GOP, she said, “there’s a lot of people who actually thought that I did that in 2010, think that I became an independent,” referring to her successful Senate write-in campaign.
“But I will tell you, if the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me,” Ms. Murkowski said.
Her comments came with antipathy on Capitol Hill rising against Mr. Trump after a pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, prompting Democratic calls for him to be impeached or removed via the 25th Amendment.
MURKOWSKI calls on Trump to resign and says she may not remain a Republican if the party continues to revolve around Trump >>https://t.co/92BjnUGnbd
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 8, 2021
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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