Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska on Wednesday became the first Senate Republican to express support for an independent commission or special prosecutor to investigate potential ties between President Trump and Russia.

She said that like many of her constituents, "I'm concerned about the continuous and often conflicting reports about President Trump, the FBI and Russia."

The controversy has intensified since Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last week amid his agency's probe of Trump and Russia. This week, a memo that Comey reportedly wrote after he met with Trump in February says the president wanted Comey to lay off investigating Trump's former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, suggesting Trump may have tried to influence the federal Russia probe.

While Murkowski said she wants the Senate Intelligence Committee's own investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election to continue, she said both Congress and the executive branch need to work to restore the public's trust.

"In order to gain that credibility, it may be that we need to look to an independent commission or special prosecutor," she said.

Like many Alaskans, I’m concerned about the continuous and often conflicting reports about President Trump, the FBI and Russia. pic.twitter.com/XENI02GdBT — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) May 17, 2017



Her tweet follows a comment by a Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, who said, "I think it's time that we look at the idea of whether it's an independent commission or special prosecutor." Many Democrats already have called for independent commission or special prosecutor to look into the matter.