GOP Senate Icon Ditches Party To Support Trump Impeachment

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has broken with the GOP and been critical of soon-to-be ex-President Donald Trump in the past, said this week that she supports the House’s recent second impeachment of the outgoing president. The Democrat-led House kickstarted these impeachment proceedings after Trump’s incitement of rioting at the U.S. Capitol that is connected to at least five deaths, and their article of impeachment outlined a charge of “incitement of insurrection.” Now, discussing Trump’s recent behavior, Murkowski observes that the House “responded swiftly, and I believe, appropriately, with impeachment.” Ten House Republicans voted in favor of impeachment.

On January 6, the day of the deadly rioting, Trump told a crowd of his supporters at an outdoor event in D.C. that they needed to “fight like hell” in order to save the country in the face of supposed widespread election fraud. Trump pushed the claim that systematic election fraud swung the presidential race to Biden for basically the entirety of the time since Election Day, but there has never been any meaningfully conclusive evidence whatsoever in support of the accusation. In dozens of post-election court cases, no court anywhere in the country has accepted the systematic fraud claims at any point.

Meanwhile, Murkowski commented, in part, as follows:

‘On the day of the riots, President Trump’s words incited violence, which led to the injury and deaths of Americans — including a Capitol Police officer — the desecration of the Capitol, and briefly interfered with the government’s ability to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. Such unlawful actions cannot go without consequence and the House has responded swiftly, and I believe, appropriately, with impeachment.’

Murkowski did not say how she would vote during the upcoming Senate trial for Trump, who will seemingly already be out of office by the time that the proceedings begin. Instead, she noted as follows:

‘When the Article of Impeachment comes to the Senate, I will follow the oath I made when sworn in as a U.S. Senator. I will listen carefully and consider the arguments of both sides, and will then announce how I will vote.’

Check out her statement in full below — clicking on the post will reveal the statement in its entirety:

During Trump’s first Senate trial, only one Republican — Mitt Romney, of Utah — voted in favor of conviction, and in light of the Republican majority in the Senate, the effort to convict Trump fell short. This time, the outcome is more uncertain amidst rising harsh criticism of the soon-to-be former president.