ALASKA SENATOR REFUSES TO PRE-JUDGE UP-COMING SENATE TRIAL

…Alaska Senator, Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski criticizes Senate Leader’s for being “hand-in-glove” with the White House.

President Trump lashed out at Pelosi over the impeachment delay as he called the trial an “Impeachment Scam.”  But there are issues that could go against him, if there are witnesses allowed in the Senate trial, and they could be coming from his own party.

We already know that the Utah Senator, Mitt Romney, doesn’t like or respect his own GOP president, and now the very independent Senator, Lisa Murkowski, a Senator who won her Alaska seat as a “write-in” candidate, she has more than once made her disgust with the president very well known.

Senator Murkowski…a key potential Republican swing vote…told an Anchorage TV station that she was “disturbed” by the Senate majority leader’s statement last week that the verdict in President Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial was already determined.

“To me, it means we have to take that step back from being hand-in-glove with the defense,” Murkowski said.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the leader of the Senate, called the House’s case for impeachment “so darn weak” and he said there was “zero chance” Trump would be removed from office. The majority leader also promised “total coordination” with the White House lawyers and Trump’s defense team.

If this were a classic TV court case, the judge would dismiss the Senate Leader for extreme bias.

Murkowski told NBC’s KTUU that she rightfully believes there should be a distance between the Senate, which will serve as the jury for Trump’s impeachment trial, and the White House.  McConnell’s comments, she said, have “further confused the process.”

Trump made us aware of his poor relationship with Murkowski last November at a fundraising event in Washington.

Trump said: “She hates me. I kind of like her, but she really doesn’t like me,” he said, referring to Murkowski. “We do so much for Alaska, you’d think we’d get her vote for something one of these days.”

In the TV interview in Anchorage, Murkowski obviously did not say how she would vote when the Senate trial takes place, but she did say she would vote yes or no, based on the proof offered up at the trial.

The Alaska senior senator told KTUU that she felt House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had made a mistake by rushing the impeachment  process so it could be wrapped up before Christmas. The House, Murkowski said, pushed the process when two key witnesses followed improper White House directions and refused to testify.  That included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who ignored a subpoena, and former national security adviser, John Bolton, who indicated he would fight a subpoena in court.  Murkowski says that the House should have instead, taken that issue to the courts.

Instead of going to the courts, House Intelligence Chairman,  Adam Schiff (D-CA) opted to move forward with a vote on articles of impeachment.  Waiting on the courts would delay a trial, which Schiff said was unacceptable due to the time-sensitive nature of the accusations against Trump, including that he had encouraged foreign interference to occur in the upcoming 2020 election.

The House had then voted Dec. 18 on the two impeachment articles for “Abuse of Power” and “Obstruction of Congress”, but Pelosi has yet to formally send them to the Senate for a trial.

First, Pelosi said, she wants to know “what sort of trial the Senate will conduct.”  In a letter to other senators Monday, Senate Minority Leader, Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that documents withheld by the White House during the House impeachment process should be subpoenaed as part of the Senate trial.

Of course, Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell has called the Pelosi holdup “absurd.”  While Trump lashed out at Pelosi over the delay, and again called the trial an “Impeachment Scam,” those sharp critiques are in stark contrast to the president’s Christmas morning video message.  He did this message with the first lady Melania Trump, in which he called for unity and respect.  Yeah, right.

Murkowski took a shot at the senate leader by telling KTUU that she is committed to observing Trump’s trial objectively.  “It would be wrong”, she said, “to prejudge and say there’s nothing there, and to jump to conclusions about Trump’s guilt would be unfair”, Murkowski had added.

We must remember that after the Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was investigated in 2018 by the Senate Judiciary Committee over allegations of sexual misconduct, Murkowski bucked her party and voted against his confirmation.  At the time, Trump said in a phone call with The Washington Post that he believed the senator would “never recover.”  Murkowski has proven that she is much stronger than the president had anticipated.

In the TV interview in Anchorage, Murkowski did not say how she would vote when the Senate trial takes place.

It will take 6 GOP senators to defect to impeach the president.  According to the American media, there are 8 Republican Senators to watch that have constituents at home that would possibly want Trump removed from office.

Here are the other possible senators: Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

Murkowski has said the following:  “If it means that I am viewed as one who looks openly and critically at every issue in front of me rather than acting as a rubber stamp for my party or my president, I am totally, totally good with that.”

Let us hope that more elected Senators are going to up hold their oaths to the support the US Constitution, instead of being totally partisan party Republicans.

Copyright G. Ater 2019