Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, issued a statement on Friday reacting to former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict. (Getty Images)
The Alaska senator notably issued a last-minute endorsement of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination for president shortly before her campaign ended.
Haley often pointed to Trump's legal troubles and the "chaos" she said follows him on the 2024 campaign trail, while similarly avoiding taking a position on whether the cases were right or wrong.
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"Yesterday, a New York jury found former president Trump guilty of falsifying business records," Murkowski wrote on Friday. "This is the first step in the legal process. The former president has the right to appeal and I fully expect him to exercise that right."
However, she said, "It is a shame that this election has focused on personalities and legal problems rather than a debate about policies that would lift up Americans."
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Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, did not issue a statement on the verdict. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Collins similarly did not back Trump for president in the GOP primary and admitted to voting for Haley.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has emerged as someone often in line with Murkowski and Collins on certain issues, but did not release his own statement on the Trump guilty verdict.
Romney's office did not immediately provide comment when contacted by Fox News Digital.
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However, earlier this month, Romney claimed President Biden made a mistake by not pardoning Trump. "You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him," he said in an interview on MSNBC.
"I'd have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy," Romney explained.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia's reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
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