Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) believes that the House impeachment managers are laying out a case against former President Donald Trump that would make it very hard for him to be elected president again, if the Senate does not vote to convict and bar him from holding future office.
“The enormity of this. The threat not just to us as people, as lawmakers, but the threat to the institution and what Congress represents, it’s disturbing. Greatly disturbing,” Murkowski told reporters on Wednesday.
When asked how well the House impeachment managers were making their case that Trump was responsible for the riot, Murkowski said they were building a “very strong case for a timeline that laid out very clearly with the words that were used, when he used them, how he used them, to really build the anger, the violence that we saw here in this Capitol.”
She continued to say that the evidence that has been presented by the impeachment managers alleging Trump incited the violence is “pretty damning.”
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Sen. @lisamurkowski: "I don't see how Donald Trump could be re-elected to the presidency again." pic.twitter.com/8eRIkcDGZk
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 10, 2021
Finally, she was asked if she was concerned Trump could run for office again and incite violence if the Senate failed to convict him on the charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
“Frankly, I don’t see how after the American public sees the full story laid out there… this whole scenario that has been laid out before us, I just don’t see how Donald Trump could be reelected to the presidency again,” she said.
The Alaskan senator said that she was “absolutely not” facing pressure on how to vote with regards to conviction one way or the other.
The Senate is conducting a trial to determine whether or not to convict Trump on the charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
While Murkowski believes the impeachment managers may be able to swing the opinion of Americans, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has a negative view of their arguments.
“The not-guilty vote is growing after today. I think most Republicans found the presentation by the House managers offensive and absurd,” he said during an appearance on Fox News.
A two-thirds majority, or 67-votes, is required to convict Trump. However, it is seen as unlikely that enough Republicans would vote to convict the former president.