‘Awful, awful idea’: Murkowski talks renaming Denali, Trump’s cabinet picks & Biden’s 37 federal death sentences commuted
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - After a nailbiter of a last-minute deal to keep the government open, Sen. Lisa Murkowski arrived back in Alaska for Christmas.
As always, work subjects were still pouring into her email account. Murkowski had barely been in Alaska long enough to see a moose when President-elect Donald Trump vowed to change the name of Denali back to Mount McKinley, which she called, “an awful, awful idea.”
“Both [Sen. Dan Sullivan] and I leaned into it and said, ‘No. Bad idea.’ This is not only something Alaskans hardily endorse and support, it is a name that has been around for thousands of years named by the Koyukon, Athabascan,” Murkowski said. “North America’s tallest mountain, shouldn’t it have an extraordinary name like ‘The Great One’?”
Speaking at a conservative conference Sunday night, Trump said he plans to reverse the 2015 Obama-era decision that restored the mountain’s traditional Alaska Native name, Denali.
The peak was officially named Mount McKinley from 1917 to 2015, honoring the 25th president, William McKinley. Trump initially backed off the renaming in 2017 after Alaska’s senators opposed the move.
“President McKinley was the president that was responsible for creating a vast sum of money in the United States that Teddy Roosevelt then spent,” Trump said on Sunday. “So let’s say they were both excellent presidents. But McKinley did that, and that’s one of the reasons that we’re going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley because I think he deserves it.”
On Murkowski’s first weekday back in Alaska, the news also broke that the House Ethics Committee report revealed that former congressman Matt Gaetz paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old in 2017.
President Joe Biden said he’d commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 prisoners on federal death row to life without parole, taking the unprecedented step ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump.
And, the country’s first Alaska Native member of Congress, Rep. Mary Peltola, will spend her final days in office after being defeated by Republican Nick Begich.
It has been an interesting time to be a lawmaker in D.C.
Murkowski spoke with Alaska’s News Source Monday afternoon on a wide range of topics. These have been edited for space and clarity.
Q: What do you think of Elon Musk seeming to have so much influence with the upcoming administration?
A: “I tell you, it’s a little concerning for me as one who really values the fact that as an elected member of Congress, you know, you come in with the endorsements of your constituents, the representative of the people. But, here you have a billionaire — not just any billionaire, but probably the wealthiest man on the planet — who is using a megaphone and a platform to influence in a way that many would say is out of bounds."
Murkowski has historically been a Congresswoman who often bucks her party and does what she thinks is best for Alaska, which has led to reports that she said she “wasn’t attached” to the label “Republican” to describe herself.
Murkowski also hasn’t committed to supporting Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault — a charge that he has denied — and faces other allegations of alcohol abuse and mismanagement of nonprofits dedicated to veterans and previous statements that suggested he didn’t support women serving in the military, a comment he has since walked back.
Murkowski went on to say “I have not stated publically that I am a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on any one of the nominees.”
Q: What will it be like to be working in the Senate during a second Trump term?
A: “I think it will be a lot more focused, I think President Trump in his first term learned a lot, I think he learned that the Congress has a, a very specific role ... that we are our separate but equal branch of government.” Murkowski said. “I think he has come to appreciate that ... and how it will benefit him in his initiatives.”
“He wants to do many of the same things I want to accomplish. And as we seek to, to build out Alaska’s energy assets, as we seek to do more with critical minerals ... I think we have common ground.”
Q: Should the United States take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal?
A: “I will say the same thing I said about Denali, I don’t think we need to relitigate [taking control of the Panama Canal]. That was a treaty arrangement back decades and decades ago ... this is not a situation, I think, where we need to create issues where issues are not there.”
“I will tell President Trump when he comes into office, I think [taking control of Greenlad] is a bad idea, I think we need to take care of the U.S. Arctic first.”
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