Republican senator 'disturbed' by her own party's handling of Donald Trump impeachment

A Republican senator has said she is "disturbed" by her own party's handling of Donald Trump's impeachment. The intervention by Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska, appeared to be the first crack in the monolithic opposition to impeachment that Republican senators have so far displayed. Mr Trump faces a trial in the Senate in the new year on two articles of impeachment - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Both charges stem from his alleged attempts to coerce the Ukrainian government into investigating his political rival Joe Biden. The jury will consist of 53 Republican senators, including Ms Murkowski, and 47 Democrat senators. A two-thirds majority is required to convict the president. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, has indicated there will be "total co-ordination" between his group and the White House. But Ms Murkowski told Alaskan television: "In fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed. To me, it means that we have to take that step back from being hand-in-glove with the defence." She added: "I heard what leader McConnell said. I happened to think that has further confused the process." Ms Murkowski, one of the most moderate Republican senators, remains undecided on how she will vote at the end of the trial. She said: "For me to prejudge and say there’s nothing there or on the other hand, he should be impeached yesterday, that’s wrong, in my view, that’s wrong." Following her comments Mr Trump launched a barrage of criticism of Democrats on Twitter. The president was said by White House officials to be "agitated" that the impeachment process had been delayed over Christmas. Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat speaker of the House of Representatives, delayed sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate over the festive period. Mr Trump said the ongoing crisis was "Bad for USA!" He added: "Despite all of the great success that our Country has had over the last 3 years, it makes it much more difficult to deal with foreign leaders (and others) when I am having to constantly defend myself against the Do Nothing Democrats & their bogus Impeachment Scam." Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate have suggested a small number of Democrats could ultimately vote to acquit the president. That would allow them to present the verdicts as not just an acquittal, but a bipartisan "exoneration" of the president.

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