Murkowski becomes first Republican senator to call on Trump to resign, report

Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Friday called on President Trump to resign, making the Alaska Republican the first in the GOP Senate conference to publicly call on him to step down.

“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News two days after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building as members of Congress attempted – and ultimately succeeded – in certifying Electoral College votes making Democrat Joe Biden the next U.S. president.

She also spoke amid calls for Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet secretaries to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment, which allows for a president to be removed from office if he's "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," and as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prepared impeachment proceedings, which purportedly could begin as early as Monday.

“I think he should leave," Murkowski also said. "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."

 

Other congressional Republicans appear more intent on allowing Trump to remain in the White House until Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration, to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power.

In the interview, Murkowski, who at first opposed Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, also blamed Trump for inciting the riot Wednesday, saying his calls for supporters to "fight" inspired them.

"How are they supposed to take that?," she asked. "It’s an order from the president. And so that’s what they did."