Sen. Lisa Murkowski Calls for Trump's Resignation After Capitol Riots, Questions Future as Republican

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has called for President Donald Trump’s resignation following the deadly U.S. Capitol riots, questioning her own future with the Republican party.

Murkowski’s statements in a recent interview with the Anchorage Daily News make her the first GOP lawmaker to publicly ask Trump to step down after he incited his supporters to launch a violent siege on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski said.

“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,” she continued.

“He doesn’t want to stay there,” Murkowski added. “He only wants to stay there for the title. 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.”

The senator also said she attributes Wednesday's events to the president, noting that he “told his supporters to fight.”

“How are they supposed to take that? It’s an order from the president,” she said of the pro-Trump rioters. “And so that’s what they did. They came up and they fought and people were harmed, and injured and died.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Murkowski debated whether she will remain a member of the GOP going forward. “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.

Several Republican lawmakers have also been critical of Trump following the riots.

If Trump does not resign, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the House will move forward with articles of impeachment. On Friday, Pelosi, 80, issued a statement after an hours-long meeting with the House Democratic Caucus that she described as "sad, moving and patriotic."

"It is the hope of Members that the President will immediately resign. But if he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with Congressman Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment legislation and a motion for impeachment," Pelosi said in her statement.

While some lawmakers, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, have expressed concerns that impeaching Trump with less than two weeks before Biden is inaugurated will "only divide our country more," others have argued that it is an important precedent to set moving forward.

"Some people ask: Why would you impeach and convict a president who has only a few days left in office?" Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted on Friday. "The answer: Precedent. It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government."

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