Daily US Times, Washington: A Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is ‘disturbed’ by her party’s stand before President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
Several Republican senators already said publicly they would not act as a ‘impartial jorur’ in the rump’s impeachment trial.
Powerful Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he would do everything to make sure Trump impeachment trial in the Senate ends quickly. He said that in Doha two weeks ago ‘this thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly’.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has acknowledged ‘total co-ordination’ with the White House about the trial.
President Trump was impeached in the Democrats dominated House of Representative for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The impeachment made him the third President in US history to be impeached.
The next step of the impeachment process will be handled by the Senate, where Trump’s party The Republican Party holds the majority. The senators are supposed to remain impartial.
The President has been denying the accusation from day one and branded the impeachment process as ‘witch-hunt.
What did Ms Murkowski say?
Senator Murkowski said she was uncomfortable with Mr McConnell’s comments about ‘total co-ordination’.
While speaking with Alaska’s KTUU news channel, the Senator said ‘When I heard that I was disturbed’.
‘To me, it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defence’, she added.
Mrs Murkowski is considered a moderate Republican and previously criticized President Trump on a number of issues.
In October last year, she was opted not to vote Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, after sexual assault allegations.
Role of Mr McConnell
The impeachment ball is now on Mr McConnell court because he is the Senate Majority Leader and will play i key role in how the impeachment trial will be conducted.
He also publicly said last week that he would not act as ‘an impartial juror’ in the trial.
“This is a political process. There is not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision,” he said.