Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) were not among the Republicans hobnobbing with former President Donald Trump in D.C. on Thursday, with both congresswomen citing scheduling conflicts. Both staunchly avowed anti-Trumpers, Murkowski and Collins are two of the four Republican senators still in office who voted to convict the former president at his second impeachment trial. (The other two, Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah, attended Thursday’s luncheon.) Murkowski said earlier this year that she would not vote for Trump in the 2024 election, though she reiterated to reporters on Thursday that she was “not satisfied with either choice that we have.” She told The Washington Postthat she was irritated that Trump’s visit, his first to Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, had attracted so much attention, taking the spotlight off of more important issues. “So it’s like, once again, it’s all about Trump all the time,” she groused.
