Jun 4, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Trump says he will campaign against Lisa Murkowski after her support for Mattis

Trump with Barr and Meadows outside St. John's Episcopal church in Washington, D.C. on June 1. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump tweeted on Thursday that he would endorse "any candidate" with a pulse who runs against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Driving the news: Murkowski said on Thursday that she supported former Defense Secretary James Mattis' condemnation of Trump over his response to protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing. She described Mattis' statement as "true, honest, necessary and overdue," Politico's Andrew Desiderio reports.

What they're saying: "...Unrelated, I gave Alaska ANWR, major highways, and more. Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don't care, I'm endorsing. If you have a pulse, I'm with you!" Trump tweeted Thursday evening.

  • "Perhaps we're getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up," Murkowski told Politico on Thursday.
  • "I am struggling with it. I have struggled with it for a long time ... I think right now as we are all struggling to find ways to express the words that need to be expressed appropriately, questions about who I'm going to vote for not going to vote for I think are distracting," she said.

Go deeper: Murkowski calls Mattis' Trump criticism "true and honest and necessary and overdue"

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