Alaska’s two U.S. Senators have called for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump to give up.
In prepared statements issued Saturday morning, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan, both Republicans, called for their party’s standard-bearer to step aside in favor of his vice-presidential candidate, Indiana governor Mike Pence.
“I cannot and will not support Donald Trump for President ─ he has forfeited the right to be our party’s nominee. He must step aside,” Murkowski said.
The senators’ comments came one day after the Washington Post published video from a 2005 “Access Hollywood” interview with Trump. In the video, taken behind the scenes of the program, Trump boasts of kissing, groping and sexually harassing women, saying at one point that “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
“You can do anything,” Trump says in the recording.
“Whatever you want,” says another voice.
“Grab them by the (expletive),” Trump says. “You can do anything.”
In his prepared statement, Sullivan said he has “tried to do everything in my authority” to fight sexual assault and domestic violence.
“We need national leaders who can lead by example on this critical issue. The reprehensible revelations about Donald Trump have shown that he can’t. Therefore, I am withdrawing my support for his candidacy,” Sullivan said.
At the end of his statement, Sullivan said he will support Pence for president.
[Republicans calling on Donald Trump to step down as nominee]
Rep. Don Young, Alaska’s sole delegate in the House of Representatives, has never endorsed Trump or pledged support for him, but he did not immediately call for Trump to drop out of the race.
His spokesman, Matt Shuckerow, offered a prepared statement from Young: “Donald Trump’s comments were terrible and extremely demeaning to women. Nobody deserves to be treated that way.”
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is sticking by her early support of Trump, posting on Facebook that while his “braggart comments” in the video “were beyond abhorrent and offensive,” it was “a very old conversation between non-political figures when we’re in a crucial time.”
Murkowski and Sullivan are two of several prominent Republicans who abandoned their previous support for Trump’s presidential campaign on Saturday.
Vice-presidential candidate Pence said in a statement that “As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday. I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has not recanted his support for Trump’s presidential campaign, but he dis-invited Trump to one of his campaign rallies scheduled for Saturday in Wisconsin.
John McCain and five other U.S. Senators (in addition to Sullivan and Murkowski) had withdrawn their support for Trump by 2 p.m. Alaska time Saturday. So had several U.S. Representatives.
For his part, Trump has said he will not step down and will continue his campaign. He apologized “if anyone was offended” by his comments.
Removing Trump from the November election would not be easy in Alaska, which has already printed its ballots for November. According to state law, it’s too late for a substition, but a write-in replacement could happen.
The second presidential debate is Sunday night.
