- Trump threw Senator Mitch McConnell under the bus in a hard-hitting statement on Tuesday.
- Trump called the powerful Republican Senate a “severe, taciturn and serious political hack”.
- McConnell strongly criticized Trump’s actions related to the siege of the Capitol in a speech on Saturday.
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Former President Donald Trump attacked his former ally, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, in an exciting statement issued on Tuesday through its Save America leadership PAC.
McConnell voted for Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trial on charges of inciting the January 6 uprising on the United States Capitol for constitutional reasons, but condemned Trump’s role in the disturbances in a strong speech later.
“There is no doubt – none – that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for causing the day’s events,” McConnell said on February 13, calling Trump’s lack of quick response to contain the insurrection as soon as it started “a shameful abandonment of duty “
“The people who broke into this building believed that they were acting in accordance with their president’s wishes and instructions,” he said.
In his statement, Trump attacked McConnell as a “severe, sullen and serious political hack”, saying that “if Republican senators stay with him, they will not win again”.
He added: “Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a violin – they never did it so well – and they want to keep it that way! We know that our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell Beltway First’s or America Last’s agenda. Biden. ”
The New York Times and Politico reported that Trump had developed a “more unpleasant” version of the statement that scoffed at McConnell for having “too many chins”, but was finally persuaded by advisers to drop it.
—Eli Yokley (@eyokley) February 16, 2021
Trump also blamed McConnell for the “Georgia disaster”, which, he wrote, was caused because the Kentucky senator did not support COVID-19’s higher stimulus checks in the relief bill that passed Congress in December.
“McConnell equated the $ 2,000 Democratic stimulus check offer with $ 600. How does it work? It became the Democrats’ top ad and was a big winner for them,” said Trump.
Republicans lost the two January 5 Senate elections in Georgia, ending years of Republican rule in the state and giving Democrats close control of the US Senate.
Outlets, including The New York Times, however, reported that McConnell blames Trump primarily for the loss of Senate races for his repeated attacks on the integrity of the Georgia elections and the top Republicans in the state, attacks that Trump repeated in his statement.
The former president also criticized McConnell for not being grateful for Trump’s endorsement in his 2020 Senate race against challenger Democrat Amy McGrath.
“My only regret is that McConnell ‘begged’ for my strong support and endorsement towards the great people of Kentucky in the 2020 election, and I gave it to him,” he wrote. “He dropped from one point to 20 points above and won. The speed with which he forgets.”
Trump ended his statement by saying, “When necessary and appropriate, I will support primary rivals who advocate Making America Great Again and our America First policy.”
Trump and McConnell have not spoken since mid-December, when McConnell publicly acknowledged Trump’s electoral defeat in a December 15 speech to the Senate floor and congratulated President Joe Biden on his election victory.
The New York Times reported that McConnell plans never to speak to Trump again about his role in inciting Capitol violence, as well as his lack of leadership in responding to the insurrection.