WASHINGTON, Jan 9, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – US Senator Lisa Murkowski on Friday
became the chamber’s first Republican to publicly call for Donald Trump’s
resignation, saying the president has “caused enough damage” to the nation.
The Alaska lawmaker also questioned her future as a Republican, warning
that if her party remains in thrall of Trump despite his inciting a mob to
storm the US Capitol, then she could leave it for good.
“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,”
Murkowski, seething over the president’s behavior, told the Anchorage Daily
News in an interview.
“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,” she said.
“He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to
do the good thing, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing a good thing.”
Murkowski, 63, has bucked her party and Trump on numerous occasions,
including voting against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s
confirmation.
In 2010, after losing her primary, she mounted a write-in campaign as a
rival Republican — and won.
“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,”
she told the Anchorage paper.
Most Senate Republicans, at least publicly, are not supportive of ousting
Trump.
Congressman Adam Kinzinger was the first House Republican to call for
Trump’s removal using the Constitution’s 25th amendment, which allows the
vice president and a majority of the cabinet to remove a president deemed
unable to discharge his duties.
Multiple Senate Republicans have voiced anger over Trump’s behavior, but
none has explicitly stated they want the president to step down.
Republican senator Ben Sasse told CBS on Friday that he would “definitely
consider” articles of impeachment if and when they are introduced.
Mitt Romney, who was the only Senate Republican to vote to convict Trump
one year ago after he was impeached by the House, eviscerated the president
in a floor speech after the riot.
But on Friday, he stopped short of calling for Trump’s removal, telling The
Washington Post: “I think we’ve got to hold our breath” until January 20 when
Joe Biden takes office.