Donald Trump has mocked the re-election chances of GOP lawmakers Lisa Murkowksi and Liz Cheney’s after vowing to campaign against Republicans who backed his impeachment.
The former president issued a statement Wednesday in which he said it would be great if Murkowksi did not run and called Cheney ‘crazy’ and said ‘so many people are looking to run against’ her.
Senator Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska and Rep. Liz Cheney – both Republican lawmakers – backed impeaching Trump following the Capitol riot on January 6.
In the Twitter style statement Trump wrote: ‘Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is ‘still weighing whether she will run again’ for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she won’t run! Wouldn’t that be great?
‘So many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheney—but we only want one.
‘She is so far down in Wyoming polls that the only way she can win is numerous candidates running against her and splitting the vote. Hopefully, that won’t happen.’
He then pledged: ‘I’ll make an Endorsement soon!’
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) presented the inaugural Champion for Freedom Award to Trump on the same weekend the former president slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a ‘stone-cold loser’.
He also mocked McConnell´s wife, Elaine Chao, who was Trump’s transportation secretary.
Donald Trump has mocked the re-election chances of GOP lawmakers Lisa Murkowksi and Liz Cheney’s after vowing to campaign against Republicans who backed his impeachment
The former president issued a statement Wednesday in which he said it would be great if Murkowksi, right, did not run and called Cheney, left, ‘crazy’ and said ‘so many people are looking to run against’ her
Murkowski, who has been in the Senate since 2002, has not yet announced formal plans to seek re-election next year. She was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict him at his Senate impeachment trial in.
The Alaska Republican Party then censured Murkowksi over her impeachment vote and pledged to recruit a primary challenger to oppose her.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was among 10 House Republicans who joined every Democrat in voting to impeach Trump for inspiring the January 6 attack. The Wyoming GOP then censured Rep. Cheney for voting to impeach Trump.
‘The former president is using the same language that he knows provoked violence on Jan 6. As a party, we need to be focused on the future, we need to be focused on embracing the Constitution, not embracing insurrection,’ Cheney told CBS.
She said this week that she would not back Trump should he run for election in 2024.
Trump wrote: ‘Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is ‘still weighing whether she will run again’ for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she won’t run! Wouldn’t that be great? ‘So many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheney—but we only want one’
Trump and his allies have already promised to fuel primary challenges against Cheney and those Republicans who supported his impeachment.
The former president called Murkowski a ‘failed candidate’ and a ‘disloyal and very bad senator.’
Trump took aim at Murkowski in March, telling Politico he would ‘not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski.’
‘She represents the state badly and her county even worse,’ Trump said. ‘I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be – in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.
Polling from the GOP polling firm Cygnal reported earlier this month found that GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka was leading in an all-party primary, taking 33.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Murkowski’s 18.8 per cent.
Al Gross, an independent who was the Democratic nominee for Alaska’s 2020 Senate race, came in third with 17.6 per cent.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) presented the inaugural Champion for Freedom Award to Trump on the same weekend the former president slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, pictured, as a ‘stone-cold loser’
Trump veered sharply from prepared remarks Saturday night and instead slammed McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao.
Trump also said he was ‘disappointed’ in his vice president, Mike Pence, and used a profanity in assessing McConnell, according to multiple people in attendance who were not authorized to publicly discuss what was said in a private session.
He said McConnell had not thanked him properly for putting Chao, who was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, in his Cabinet.
McConnell and Chao have been particularly critical of Trump´s role in encouraging the insurrection; Chao resigned her post in protest. Pence, meanwhile, presided over a congressional session that certified Biden´s election victory over Trump.
Following Trump’s comments McConnell said: ‘What I’m concentrating on is the future. And what we are confronted with here is a totally left-wing administration with a slight majority in the House, a 50/50 Senate, trying to transform America into something no one voted for last year.’
