Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska says she is “disturbed” to hear that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is talking strategy with the White House as the possibility of a Senate impeachment trial looms.
While the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where the actual trial may take place. However, this has not stopped McConnell from making a plan to beat impeachment.
“We’ll be working through this process… in total coordination with White House counsel’s office,” he said in an interview with Sean Hannity earlier this month.
“There will be no difference between the President’s position and our position as to how to handle this,” he added. (RELATED: Dershowitz: Pelosi Sitting On Impeachment Is ‘Abuse Of Power’)
Murkowski reacted to the Majority Leader’s comments negatively.
“And in fairness, when I heard that [McConnell is coordinating with the White House] I was disturbed,” she said in an interview with KTUU News. “We have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so [when] I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that has further confused the process.”
Murkowski also criticized how House Democrats handled impeachment, describing it as rushed.
“Speaker Pelosi was very clear, very direct that her goal was to get this done before Christmas,” she said, according to KTUU.
The senator said she hopes impeachment is a “full and fair process,” and has not yet decided how she would vote if a Senate trial does occur.
“For me to prejudge and say there’s nothing there or on the other hand, he should be impeached yesterday,” she added, “that’s wrong, in my view, that’s wrong.”