Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Friday expressed frustration with the “mess” caused by former President Trump’s legal battles, declaring that “a Republican candidate without these issues has a clear path to victory.”
“It is unfortunate that this election has focused on personalities and legal issues rather than a debate about policies that benefit people. These distractions have given the Biden campaign free rein and shifted the focus from Biden’s inexcusable record and the damage his policies have done to Alaska and our economy to Trump’s legal drama,” Murkowski said. It said in a statement.
Murkowski has broken with some of her usual Senate Republican allies, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who on Thursday criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for suing Trump despite the president’s promise to do so when he ran for district attorney in 2021.
“These charges should never have been filed in the first place and I hope the conviction will be overturned on appeal,” McConnell posted on social platform X.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been at odds with Trump in his efforts to block the certification of the 2020 election, called the Manhattan jury’s verdict “outrageous.”
Murkowski said Friday that the trial and sentence were “the first step in the legal process.”
“The former president has a right to appeal, and I fully expect him to exercise that right,” she said, but it fell short of the onslaught of Republican lawmakers have aimed at Bragg, Judge Juan Marchan and the Manhattan Criminal Court.
Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R), who is running for the Maryland Senate, is one of the few Republicans who has called on his fellow Americans to respect the ruling.
“At such a dangerously divided moment in our nation’s history, leaders of all parties should not add fuel to the fire with even more poisonous partisanship,” Hogan said Thursday. “We must reaffirm what has made our country great: the rule of law.”
Former Trump adviser Chris LaCivita responded harshly, predicting Hogan would face backlash from Trump supporters.
“You just finished campaigning,” LaCivita wrote with an X above a repost of Hogan’s comments.
