On Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was angry about what she called the “distractions” of former President Trump’s legal problems. She said, “A Republican nominee without this baggage would have a clear path to victory.”
I think it’s a shame that this election has been more about people and legal issues than about policies that would help Americans. The focus has shifted from Biden’s bad record and the harm his policies have caused to Alaska and the business of our country to Trump’s legal problems, which has given the Biden campaign a free pass, Murkowski said in a statement.
Murkowski didn’t agree with some of her usual Senate Republican allies, like Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Susan Collins (Maine). On Thursday, they spoke out against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for charging Trump after promising to do so when he ran for DA in 2021.
“These charges should not have been brought at all.” “I think the conviction will be thrown out on appeal,” McConnell wrote on the social network X.
The Manhattan jury’s decision was called an “outrage” by former Vice President Mike Pence. He and Trump had a fight over Trump’s attempt to stop the approval of the 2020 election.
It was “the first step in the legal process,” Murkowski said on Friday, after the trial and decision.
She said, “The former president has the right to appeal, and I fully expect him to exercise that right.” This was a far cry from the many negative things Republicans have said about Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan, and the Manhattan criminal court.
One of the few Republicans to say that people should accept the verdict was former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who is now running for the Senate in Maryland.
“All leaders, no matter what party, must not add to the heat of partisanship at this dangerously divided time in our history,” Hogan said Thursday. “We need to say again that the rule of law is what makes this country great.”
Chris LaCivita, a former Trump adviser, had a sharp reaction to that. He said that Hogan would face backlash from Trump voters.
LaCivita wrote on X, above a copy of Hogan’s comments, “You just ended your campaign.”