Sen. Lisa Murkowski is calling on President Trump to resign.
The violent Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday were answering his call to avenge the election results, Murkowski said.
“People who were there to riot and who were encouraged that very morning by their president,” she said. “Yes, I think he was responsible.”
Also, she said, Trump is too preoccupied with his own situation to govern.
“If there is such chaos, if right now the president can’t focus on anything except his own anger, then how do we assure America that we’re safe?” she said.
Murkowski said Republicans who did not repudiate Trump earlier, who did not think it would get this bad, bear some responsibility. She includes herself in that group.
“I allowed myself to refrain from speaking my truth,” she said. “And I can’t just be quiet right now.”
With 12 days left in the president’s term, she said she doesn’t think there’s time to remove the president through impeachment or the 25th Amendment.
Murkowski said she will not join the new Democratic majority in the Senate, but is speaking to moderates of both parties, in the House and Senate, about ways to have more influence in Congress.
Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young did not respond to questions asking if they support a call for the president to resign.
Trump, at a rally before the insurrection on Wednesday, had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” he said. “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
This is a developing story. Please check back.
