Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell criticized former President Trump on Saturday in a Senate speech shortly after McConnell voted for absolution in the former president’s second impeachment trial. In a speech with a first semester reminiscent of the arguments made by administrators of the House’s impeachment, McConnell said the former president was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
But McConnell argued that he believed it was unconstitutional to condemn a president who was no longer in office.
“This was an ever-growing crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to overturn the voters’ decision or set our institutions on fire on the way out,” said McConnell.
McConnell was unequivocal about Mr. Trump’s responsibility. “There is no doubt whatsoever that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for causing the events of the day,” he said, and added that Trump watched the events unfold on television. “A crowd was attacking the Capitol on their behalf,” he said. “These criminals were carrying their banners, hanging their flags and shouting their loyalty to him.”
The Senate voted 57-43 on Saturday to absolve the former president of a charge of inciting insurrection. Seven Republicans joined the Democrats to plead guilty to the former president: Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania.
McConnell said the people who broke into the Capitol believed they were acting according to Trump’s wishes and instructions. “Having that belief,” said McConnell, “was a predictable consequence of the growing spate of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole that the defeated president shouted into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
McConnell described the violence on January 6, saying that the Americans beat and bloodied their own police, broke into the Senate floor and built a gallows and shouted about the vice president’s murder. “They did this,” said McConnell, “because they were fed wild falsities by the most powerful man on earth, because they were angry at having lost an election.”
But McConnell argued that the former president “is not constitutionally eligible for sentencing” because he is no longer in office – although the Senate voted 56-44 earlier this week that it was constitutionally possible to convict a former employee.
McConnell said, “I believe the Senate was right not to take power that the Constitution does not give us.”
He said he respects his colleagues who have reached any conclusion about the constitutionality of the conviction. “This is a difficult question, no doubt,” he said.
“If President Trump was still in office,” he said, “I would have considered carefully whether House administrators proved their specific responsibility.”
McConnell prevented the Senate from carrying out the impeachment trial before Trump stepped down. He refused to agree to an emergency Senate session to conduct the trial, arguing that there was not enough time to conduct it fairly before President Biden took office. Biden was sworn in seven days after the House voted to impeach Trump.
The trial, which began on February 9, lasted only five days.
Although Trump was acquitted of inciting rebellion at the Senate trial, he can still face criminal charges. ONE Georgia prosecutor opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s alleged attempts to influence the state’s presidential election. AND, separately, Manhattan’s district attorney, Cy Vance, is also overseeing an investigation into Trump for possible crimes as wide ranging as fraud and tax evasion.