Murkowski warns against rushing to conclusions on Trump impeachment
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she is troubled that some have already made a decision on whether President Trump should be impeached over his actions toward Ukraine.
Murkowski, speaking at a recent health care event in Alaska, said she finds the impeachment fight that has engulfed the country to be “troubling.”
“What I find equally troubling is that even before there has been any considered review, that people have decided.” Murkowski said. “There is either ‘absolutely, you must get rid of him tomorrow’ viewpoint or ‘he must stay in and no questions asked.'”
Murkowski added that she wants to follow a “process” and gather “facts on the ground,” including making sure she isn’t making decisions based on her party controlling the White House.{mosads}
“I’m also trying to think to myself, if this set of facts were to be in front of me and the president was President Hillary Clinton as opposed to President Donald Trump, would I be viewing this in a different way? Because if I do, that’s wrong. I shouldn’t view whether what is right and what is wrong based on the political affiliation of the individual that we are considering,” she said.
Murkowski’s comments come as House Democrats are at the start of an impeachment inquiry centered on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
Democrats have blasted Trump for asking the Ukrainian government to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate former Vice President Biden and the Democratic presidential candidate’s son Hunter Biden, and they are also probing allegations that the president tried to withhold aid to Ukraine in an effort to get Kiev to launch such a probe.
Murkowski told reporters late last month that she found Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump urged Zelensky to “look into” the Bidens, to be “very concerning.”
Murkowski, part of a dwindling number of moderate senators, has been reserved about weighing in on the impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats.
“In terms of the formal impeachment inquiry — that lies in the House of Representatives. Right now the Senate doesn’t have a part in this until the House reviews and they act. Until the point the Senate has a role in this, Senator Murkowski will wait to see the process play out in the House,” a spokesperson for Murkowski told an Alaska TV station.
But her stance puts her at odds with some of her GOP colleagues.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called a partial transcript of the Ukraine call a “nothing burger,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters, “I’m the jury—not guilty. Don’t waste your time.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is also running Facebook ads pledging that he will prevent Trump from being impeached.
“Nancy Pelosi’s in the clutches of a left wing mob. They finally convinced her to impeach the president. All of you know your Constitution, the way that impeachment stops is a Senate majority with me as majority leader,” McConnell says in the Facebook ad.
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