Murkowski delivers 'scorching' statement on voting to convict Trump

Lisa Murkowski.
(Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) didn't hold back on Saturday when she issued a "scorching" statement on why she decided to vote to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.

"The facts make it clear that the violence and desecration of the Capitol that we saw on Jan. 6 was not a spontaneous uprising," Murkowski said, explaining that she believes Trump "set the stage" for the insurrection months before by repeatedly pushing unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election. Trump, she said, "did everything in his power to stay in power," ultimately calling on his supporters "to come to Washington, D.C., ... to 'Stop the Steal' of an election that had not been stolen" and giving the crowd on Jan. 6 "explicit instructions" to march to the Capitol.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.