Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, isn’t saying how she’ll vote on President Trump’s fate when his impeachment case comes to the Senate.
“What I’m going to demand is that the process is full and fair, and what I will tell you is that I will commit to the one oath that I, as a sitting senator, am required to make,” she said.
Murkowski spoke at a luncheon at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage on Friday.
National news outlets often list her among a handful of Republicans who might vote with Democrats on impeachment. Murkowski votes against Trump’s position more than the average Republican senator, and she has criticized the president on occasion. But she describes impeachment as a harsh tool not to be used lightly.
“For those who have already decided that this president should’ve been impeached a long time ago, you all have your right and your views on that. For those who don’t feel he’s done anything wrong, that everything was perfect, you have your right. You have your views on that,” she said.
But Murkowski said she’s in a different category, as one of 100 Americans who will take an oath before deciding the impeachment case.
“I will be asked to say, ‘I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.’ And that is what I’m going to do,” she said.
To remove the president, Democrats would need 20 Republican senators to cross the aisle, and so far, they don’t have any.
Where Murkowski’s independence is more likely to be a factor is in votes on whether to call witnesses. Democrats need only four Republicans to vote with them to prevail on votes about the rules.
