Publicly attacks Murkowski by name over health-care vote; Interior Secretary follows with calls warn

After Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted against advancing the GOP health-care repeal bill, Trump tweeted that Murkowski 'really let the Republicans and our country down' and warned 'Too bad!' The next day, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who oversees federal agencies controlling more than half of Alaska's land, called Murkowski and fellow Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan to relay that Trump was displeased with the vote; Sullivan described the call as conveying that Alaska's economic interests tied to federal land policy could suffer as a result. Murkowski called her conversation with Trump 'a difficult conversation.' Democratic Representative Raúl Grijalva said the calls suggested Zinke was serving as 'a bag man for [Trump's] political vendettas,' and critics characterized the sequence as using the machinery of the federal government to punish a senator for an official vote.

“Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans and our country down yesterday. Too bad!” Quote verified against source