Donald Trump lambasted Mitch McConnell in a scathing statement days after the Senate Minority Leader rebuked him on the Senate floor after voting to acquit in the Senate impeachment trial.
“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said in the statement. “He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”
“This is a big moment for our country, and we cannot let it pass by using third rate ‘leaders’ to dictate our future!,” the statement concluded, according to CNN.
McConnell has repeatedly rebuked Trump’s incitement of the January 6 insurrection at US Capitol. But, he voted to acquit him in the senate impeachment trial that charges him with inciting an insurrection.
The Senate vote of 57-43 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Trump. In his remarks after the vote, McConnell said Trump was “practically and morally” responsible for the deadly attack and suggested that he could be subject to criminal prosecution, while making it clear that the party needs to break with Trump in order to remain competitive in future elections.
“There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone. His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended,” McConnell wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Monday.
