GOP senator ‘disturbed' by Mitch McConnell's ‘total coordination' with White House

WASHINGTON - Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, expressed unease in an interview broadcast Tuesday with the Senate majority leader’s vow of “total coordination” with the White House on impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, a potentially significant crack in Republican unity.

Murkowski, a moderate with an independent streak, told Anchorage’s NBC affiliate KTUU she opposed “being hand in glove with the defense” and voiced other concerns as the Senate prepares to hold a trial over the two articles of impeachment that the House approved earlier this month.

Murkowski’s views could prove important. She rarely speaks publicly against Republican leadership, but when she does, she tends to stick with her positions, as when she opposed the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and helped torpedo a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. She also tends to bring Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a fellow moderate, with her, and only a handful of defections would force the majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to switch course on the upcoming impeachment trial.

In the interview, Murkowski said she was “disturbed” by comments by McConnell that indicated he intends to work in concert with the White House counsel in planning the impeachment trial.

“In fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,” Murkowski said. “To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process.”

Murkowski said she felt that House Democrats had made a mistake in forging ahead with impeachment so quickly without potentially valuable testimony from top White House officials such as former national security adviser John Bolton, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff.

Murkowski also said she felt that McConnell, who has been meeting privately with White House counsel Pat Cipollone in preparation for the trial, had himself contributed to what she sees as the larger problems with the way Trump’s impeachment has been conducted.

As the Senate moves ahead with a trial, Murkowski is one of a small number of Republicans who has not publicly dismissed the case against the president, and says she remains open to considering the case on its merits.