GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski slams both sides in Trump impeachment trial but says she won't vote to convict

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) won't be breaking ranks this Wednesday.

The moderate Republican will be voting to acquit President Trump in the final vote of his impeachment trial, she announced Monday in a Senate floor speech. Still, Murkowski isn't exactly pleased with what went down on both sides of the aisle both before and during the trial.

After saying earlier Monday she'd reveal her vote while speaking in the Senate, Murkowski started her speech without a clear indication of where she'd land. She condemned the House for having "failed in its responsibilities" because it "rushed" to bring charges against Trump, but also declared "the Senate should be ashamed by the rank partisanship" its members showed in seemingly choosing their impeachment votes before the trial even started. "The House could have pursued censure," Murkowski then recommended, as "the response to the president's behavior is not to disenfranchise nearly 63 million Americans and remove him from the ballot." She then declared she "cannot vote to convict" because Trump's wrongdoing didn't warrant that response.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Murkowski's comments on censure make it seem like she could vote to support the censure motion Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) has proposed bringing to the Senate if Trump is not convicted.