'I want him out': Lisa Murkowski of Alaska becomes the first GOP senator to call for Trump's resignation in the wake of deadly Capitol insurrection
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the first Republican member of Congress to urge President Donald Trump to resign from office over this week's Capitol insurrection.
- "I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News in an interview published on Friday.
- Trump is accused of inciting the rioters to breach the Capitol by lying for months that the presidential election was stolen and could even be overturned by Congress and the vice president.
- Murkowski also suggested that she might leave the GOP. "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.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the first Republican member of Congress to call for President Donald Trump to resign from office over Wednesday's insurrection on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
"I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News in an interview published on Friday.
Trump, whose presidency is set to end in 12 days on January 20, is accused of inciting a violent mob of rioters to breach the US Capitol earlier this week as Congress convened in a joint session to count electoral votes. The violence forced Congress to go into recess and members to evacuate while also resulting in massive property damage and numerous injuries. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died during the day's events.
"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," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.
"I don't think he's capable of doing a good thing," she added.
Other Republican lawmakers have condemned Trump's conduct and blamed him for the deadly violence. Murkowski is the first senator to advocate that he resign from office while Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger said on Thursday that the president should be removed via the 25th Amendment.
Murkowski, who famously won a 2010 general election as a write-in candidate, also hinted that she may reconsider remaining in the GOP if it continues to mold itself in Trump's image. Two of her Senate colleagues, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, are independents who caucus with Democrats.
"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," said Murkowski, who is up for reelection in 2022.
Democrats are set to retake control of the Senate later this month after winning two runoff elections in Georgia.
"I think that that was another area where I think you can look directly to President Trump," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News of Republicans' losses in Georgia, which she described as "disappointing."
Trump has vowed to back primary challengers to any and all Republicans who dare defy him, and already threatened to campaign against Murkowski. She earned his ire in July by publicly agreeing with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' criticism of the president's response to nationwide anti-racism and -police brutality protests following George Floyd's death.
In a subsequent tweet, Trump added: "Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don't care, I'm endorsing. If you have a pulse, I'm with you!"
Murkowski, for her part, will be somewhat inoculated from a GOP primary challenge than many of her colleagues.
Starting in 2022, Alaska will move to a top-four instant runoff primary system with ranked-choice voting. Instead of each party separately holding their own primaries, candidates of all party affiliates will run in the same primary with the top four advancing to the general, where voters will rank the candidates in order of preference.