Republican senator ‘disturbed’ at GOP stance on Trump’s impeachment trial
US Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from the state of Alaska, says she was disturbed to hear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say there would be “total coordination” between the White House and the Senate over the upcoming impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
“And in fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,” Murkowski told NBC news affiliate KTUU-TV on Tuesday. “I heard what leader McConnell had said. I happened to think that has further confused the process.”
Murkowski, who says she remains undecided in how she will vote in the upcoming impeachment proceedings, told the network there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted.
Trump was impeached last week by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on two charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress’ investigation.
The impeachment probe was launched in September over his pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Biden’s son.
Trump has said he did nothing wrong.
Impeachment begins in the House. If the lower chamber of Congress approves articles of impeachment, a vote is then held in the Senate. A two-thirds majority vote would be needed in the Senate to remove the president from office.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been disagreeing over the ground rules for Trump’s Senate trial.
Senate impeachment proceedings unfold in the form of a trial, with each side having the right to call witnesses and perform cross-examinations. Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, where 51 votes are needed to pass a set of rules for the Trump trial.
There is little chance Trump will be convicted and removed from office through a trial in the Republican-led Senate, but the impeachment proceedings could resonate at the ballot box in November.
Murkowski said McConnell had “confused the process” by saying he was acting in “total coordination” with the White House on setting the parameters for the trial.
In a recent interview with Fox News, McConnell described his planning with the White House.
“We’ll be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president as well as the Senate,” McConnell said.
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