Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, thinks the pending Senate trial of impeached President Donald Trump should be a serious, sober affair in which senators acting as jurors consider evidence with an open mind. Imagine that. She told an Anchorage TV station she refused to be a partisan rubber stamp.
Murkowski said she was disturbed to learn that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he planned total coordination with Trumps attorneys during the trial. Alas, she appears to be the only Republican lawmaker willing to say this aloud.
The Senate may be under Republican control, but it should never be under White House control, no matter who occupies the Oval Office.
Its a sad commentary on the polarization of U.S. politics since 1974, when Republican President Richard Nixon faced impeachment over his attempts to impede an investigation into a break-in by operatives of his re-election campaign at the Democratic National Committees office at the Watergate building in Washington. Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tennessee, led congressional attempts to get to the bottom of the serious allegations against Nixon.
No similar Democrat emerged in 1998 and 1999, when Democratic President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House but cleared by the Senate for lying about having a sexual relationship with an intern. But at least Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut, blasted Clinton, saying, Such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral and it is harmful.
The House has made its case against Trump. If that isnt persuasive to senators, theyre not compelled to try to make it more so. But if they think the House has raised questions that demand answers about Trumps behavior, they should try to answer them, regardless of what the White House wants.
Murkowskis comments lack such moral clarity. But at least one GOP senator has a conscience.
