U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said nobody would get disconnected for asking tough questions during her virtual town hall Wednesday — and there were plenty about her role in the Trump administration’s actions so far. But there was also a much larger group of people unable to connect at all to the 75-minute conference call.

Trump’s mass firings of federal employees, cuts affecting programs ranging from healthcare to firefighting, and statements blaming Ukraine for being invaded by Russia were among the questions asked by about a dozen people. Murkowski was asked why she voted for virtually all of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees and what she might be able to do beyond mere words about actions of concern by him.

“I am going to anticipate a little bit of pushback on some of the nominees,” Murkowski said during introductory remarks that lasted nearly ten minutes. “And what I’m going to tell you right now is there’s not going to be any questions here tonight that I’m going to say are too hard to answer or we’re going to cut you off.”

That assurance came two days after a virtual town hall by Rep. Nick Begich, another member of Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation, that was besieged with “propaganda” criticisms for limiting questions to a handful of friendly prescreened inquires. The sole call that started to question Trump’s actions was cut off in what the moderator said was an inadvertent occurrence.

However, Murkowski’s town hall got a different form of widespread criticism for being conducted via telephone, with no access via Facebook, Zoom or other online platforms. As a result, a post on Murkowski’s official Facebook page announcing the event had more than 650 comments 20 minutes after it ended, with a dominant theme being complaints from people who said they were unable to dial into the call with the provided instructions.

“With over 1,000 Alaskans on the call, it appears the system was overwhelmed,” Murkowski wrote in a social media message after the event ended. “I apologize for the technical difficulties that many of you experienced.”

Many, but not all, of the callers who did get through and were selected to ask questions indicated general support for Murkowski. None of the questions were from Trump supporters asking about her opposition to some of his actions during the first month of his second term.

The first question was asked by Krisanne Rice, a Sitka resident who said in an interview afterward she frequently messages members of the congressional delegation about issues related to work she is involved with and other concerns. She began her question by thanking Murkowski for a letter sent during the day “explaining that you will stand by the Constitution and defend it and uphold it, respecting the role of Congress in the separation of powers.”

“My question is what steps you specifically take to do that — to defend and uphold the Constitution — in the crisis that we are in now?” Rice said. “Time is of the essence. And how can I, as your constituent, support you in taking some really bolder steps?”

Murkowski said she is getting a lot of “very direct questions” about whether the U.S. is experiencing a constitutional crisis due to Republican-led Congress effectively ceding its authority to Trump.

“We have to stand up now; the ‘we’ has to be more than just me, and this is where this is where it becomes more of a challenge,” she said. “But it requires speaking out. It requires saying ‘that violates the law, that violates the authorities of the executive.’”

But the difference between speaking out and taking actions that might affect outcomes was illustrated in a series of questions that occurred throughout the forum.

Murkowski responded to a question about mass firings by declaring “you do not treat people in this manner who have been good public servants” and that cutting Medicaid “is absolutely off the table” — even though Trump on Wednesday backed a budget proposal by House Republicans that cuts $880 billion from the program during the next decade.

That prompted Anchorage resident Judy Green — who expressed concern about billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk making wholesale cuts and gaining access to the nation’s financial apparatus, despite a seeming lack of official authority — to ask “what exactly are you doing?”

“Are you talking to other Republicans?” Green asked. “What is the problem? Why aren’t other Republicans…why is it just you trying to fight this?”

Murkowski said while Musk’s actions appear unprecedented in scope, he has certain executive branch authority temporarily as a designated special government employee.

“I’m not particularly pleased with what we’ve seen with this delegation of authority, but it is something that the executive does have the ability to bring on individuals in this capacity,” she said. “But he doesn’t have unfettered authority, just as the president himself does not have unfettered authority. And so Elon Musk also has to follow the laws.”

Court challenges that have been filed against actions by Musk, including the firings, that appear to be illegal, Murkowski said. However, Musk, Trump and top administration officials are challenging the judiciary’s authority over the executive branch and they already have taken actions violating the legislative branch’s authority by freezing funds approved by Congress — creating a scenario where Trump may simply bypass the other two branches of government, which was not directly addressed during Murkowski’s town hall.

Murkowski, despite voicing objections to many of Trump’s actions, voted to confirm nearly all of his nominees including anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee the Health and Human Services Department and Tulsi Gabbard — criticized as a sympathizer of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian rulers — as director of national intelligence. The senator said while there were concerns about nominees such as Kennedy, conversations with them convinced her to vote for their confirmation.

“(Kennedy) committed to me that there were going to be no reductions at (Indian Health Service) on his watch,” she said, “It was important to have that line of communication.”

About 950 IHS employees were initially fired on Friday, but Kennedy subsequently rescinded the layoffs at least temporarily.

However, Kennedy’s broader agenda prompted Fairbanks resident Vicky Franich to post one of the many online comments on Murkowski’s Facebook page during the town hall expressing outrage at the senator’s willingness to go along with much of Trump’s agenda.

“I’ve always voted for her,” Franich wrote. “Now I wouldn’t even consider her. She’s not stupid. She knows what RFK stands for. Her hypocrisy is now out there for all to see. No vote for Lisa from now on.”

Among those with questions about specific concerns was Terry Sherwood, manager of the Girdwood Food Pantry, who said the mass firings and Trump administration’s support for large cuts to social programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are creating a perilous scenario.

“Now that we have millions of people suddenly unemployed they’ll be looking for help from the food pantries of food banks, and if we’re also going to be getting rid of the programs that help fund and supply food to those programs Americans are going to be going hungry, including our Alaska neighbors,” Sherwood said.

Murkowski said “there’s real pressure on Congress to ratchet down spending, so we’re looking at more austere budgets.”

“How that’s going to play out with regards to these very important safety nets I think remains to be seen,” she said.

Sherwood also noted the layoffs included 18 U.S. Forest Service employees in her area. That agency has been among the hardest hit by Trump’s firings with about 3,200 workers fired nationally — including most of the staff at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Juneau — and Murkowski said even if there is an effort to fund temporary workers there may not be time to have adequate staff in place at many places that depend on tourism.

“It makes me kind of feel like we’re going back to the summer of COVID when our tourism just got brought to its knees,” she said. “If we don’t have the workers that we need it could be a tough time for us.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.