Murkowski doesn’t rule out leaving GOP 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) indicated that she would not rule out the possibility of leaving the Republican Party, pointing to the party’s transition to former President Trump.

“As a Republican, I wish we had a candidate we could support. I certainly cannot support Donald Trump,” she said in a statement. interview It was aired on ‘Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju’ on Sunday.

When asked if he was considering running as an independent, the Alaska senator kept his cards close to his chest and told Raju: I’m just disappointed that our party is becoming Trump’s party. ”

Asked further if he was prepared to “formally” consider and accept an independence bid, he said: “I’m going through a very interesting political period so I’ll leave it at that.” .

This comes after the Alaska Republican said earlier this month that he “cannot vote” for either President Trump or President Biden, their respective parties’ presumptive nominees.

Instead, she supported former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley later ended her bid for the Republican presidential nomination after losing a series of primaries to Trump.

Murkowski has been one of President Trump’s most outspoken critics and was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict the former president in his second impeachment in 2021.

When asked by Raju about President Trump’s description of jailed January 6th rioters as “hostages,” Murkowski said, “What happened on January 6th was about trying to stop the election.” “This was an act by people who stormed the building as a terrorist attack.”

Late last year, he claimed that President Trump’s comments about immigrants “contaminate our country,” after former President Trump claimed that immigrants “contaminate the blood” of the nation.

Trump’s grip on the Republican conference on Capitol Hill has tightened in recent months, with Republicans in both houses of Congress increasingly supporting the former president’s re-election bid.