Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she had to clear the air when she heard that President Trump thought she hated him.
The Alaska Republican told the Anchorage Daily News that the last time she spoke to Trump was to speak about his perception of her. Murkowski said that comments Trump made about her at an event last year prompted the phone call.
“He was just kind of off the cuff, and he said, ‘I don’t know, I think Lisa Murkowski hates me. I kind of like her,’” Murkowski said of the remarks.
“I read that, and I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t hate him,’” she recounted.
The senator said she reached out to him at about Christmastime last month.
“And I just said, ‘Hey, sir, you know, there’s all this stuff out there that you think I hate you,’” Murkowski recalled.
“I don’t hate you,” she said she told the president. “I don’t hate anybody, but I don’t hate you.”
Murkowski, who was the only Republican who didn’t vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said she told the president that she disagreed with him on certain policy matters but did not hold animosity toward him.
“He was so sweet: He says: ‘Oh, that’s so nice,’” Murkowski said.
After the clarification, Murkowski said she and Trump discussed issues important to Alaska for about 10 minutes.
“I think it’s important to recognize that you can have policy disagreements,” she said. “You can not like the way somebody has said something. But these are people that we work with, and relationships do matter.”
