Trump invited key senator to lunch ahead of new repeal push: report

President Trump reportedly invited Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to a private meal earlier this month.

Murkowski could not attend the lunch due to a prior obligation in her home state, CNN reported Tuesday.

“I don’t think there’s a sourness,” the senator told the news network, referencing her relationship with the president.

“If there were, I don’t think he would continue to be engaging — and that’s what we are going to continue to do.”

{mosads}The president’s invite comes as Republicans once again pursue new health care legislation, with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pushing a block grant proposal to repeal much of ObamaCare.

Murkowski caught the ire of Trump this summer when she voted against a procedural measure to begin debate over health care.

“Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!” Trump wrote on Twitter in July.

Murkowski, along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), then voted against the “skinny” repeal of ObamaCare later that week.

The new effort to repeal ObamaCare appears to have picked up some momentum, but Murkowski has said she is still studying the bill.

“I need to figure out how all the numbers work with regards to Alaska,” she told a small group of reporters Monday.

She said she met with Cassidy last week to go over numbers.

Asked if the bill is better than the bill she voted against in July, Murkowski said, “I still have to figure that out.”