Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she is disturbed by the Senate majority leader’s promise of “total coordination” with the White House on impeachment proceedings against President Trump, marking a note of GOP dissension as party leaders prepare for the president’s impeachment trial.
Ms. Murkowski, a moderate, told Anchorage’s NBC affiliate KTUU on Tuesday that she opposed “being hand-in-glove with the defense” and expressed other concerns about the process. Her remarks came as the Senate attempts to set rules for the trial over two articles of impeachment passed by the House related to Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
The comments mark a rare instance of dissent in a party that has been largely unified behind the president and the first sign of potential disharmony among Senate Republicans. Even a handful of GOP senators opposing procedures could force Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, to change his strategy on impeachment, given the party’s thin majority of 53 seats in the chamber.
Ms. Murkowski has previously spoken out against Republican leadership, opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. She voted against the Senate’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act a year earlier. But her objections in the past haven’t significantly reoriented GOP policies, and it isn’t known whether any other moderates would consider following her lead this time.
Entering the year-end holidays, Congress was at an impasse over the next steps of the impeachment process. The two sides have yet to come to terms, and there was little sign of a resolution emerging during the holiday break. Congress will reconvene on Jan. 7.
Since the House vote last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has declined to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate until she knows what the rules will be for Mr. Trump’s trial.
Senate Democrats have said they want to hear from four witnesses whose testimony the White House blocked during the House investigation. Mr. McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has said he doesn’t want witnesses to testify, and stressed he plans to work in concert with the White House in formulating the next steps in the process.
“When I heard that, I was disturbed,” Ms. Murkowski told the television station. “To me, it means that we have to take a step back from being hand-in-glove with the defense, and so when I heard what Leader McConnell said, I happen to think that has further confused the process.”
Ms. Murkowski also criticized the impeachment process in the House, suggesting Mrs. Pelosi cut corners to rush a vote. “Speaker Pelosi was very clear, very direct that her goal was to get this done before Christmas,” Ms. Murkowski said.
House Democrats, Ms. Murkowski said, had voted to impeach without hearing from potentially important witnesses whose testimony the White House blocked during the investigation, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. Her support could bolster Senate Democrats’ efforts to now call them as witnesses.
“If the House truly believed that they had information that was going to be important, they subpoena them, and if they ignore the subpoena, as they did, at the direction of the White House, then that next step is to go to the courts,” she said.
Democrats already have filed lawsuits to enforce the subpoenas, but those cases aren’t likely to be resolved before the Senate convenes a trial. House Democrats saw the unusual scope of the Trump administration’s efforts to block witnesses as sufficient to constitute an article of impeachment, charging the president with obstruction.
On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York sent a letter to all senators outlining the specific documents that he said the Senate needs to subpoena to ensure the impeachment trial is fair.
Among the documents he cited were White House communications and other records related to a complaint filed by a whistleblower that centered on the president’s dealings with Ukraine; documents related to meetings or calls between Mr. Trump and the Ukrainian president; and emails involving Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Bolton and other White House officials.
Ms. Murkowski said that she wants a “full and fair process,” citing the one against former President Bill Clinton, and that she would decide how to vote on whether to remove Mr. Trump from office only at the conclusion of his trial.
“For me to prejudge and say there’s nothing there or on the other hand, he should be impeached yesterday, that’s wrong, in my view,” she said.
Write to Sadie Gurman at [email protected]
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