Former President Donald Trump went after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), calling the Senate minority leader “a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.”
In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, Trump said that McConnell was “destroying the Republican side of the Senate” and that the senator was ”one of the most unpopular politicians in the United States.”
“The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm,” Trump said.
This weekend, McConnell voted to acquit Trump in the Senate impeachment trial over the former president’s role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
In later remarks, McConnell said that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the mob’s violent attack and that the rioters “did this because they’d been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth because he was angry he lost an election.”
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McConnell said he voted to acquit Trump because he believes it is unconstitutional to convict a former president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called out the hypocrisy of such a position, given McConnell’s role in refusing to call the Senate back into session in January, in time for a trial while Trump was still in the White House.
On Jan. 6, after Trump gave a speech lying again about the legitimacy of the U.S. election, an armed mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol where lawmakers were set to certify the results of the U.S. election. Five people died in the riots, including a Capitol Police officer.