- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never wants to talk to President Donald Trump again after Trump sparked a violent uprising in the US capital that resulted in five deaths, reports The Washington Post.
- The Republican from Kentucky has reportedly been estranged from Trump in recent weeks, and he delivered a fiery speech on the Senate floor this week rejecting the president’s continued allegations of voter and election fraud.
- McConnell gave the speech when Congress was ready to count the votes in the 2020 election and finalize Joe Biden’s victory before being disrupted by Trump’s rioters.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never wants to speak to President Donald Trump again after a violent uprising on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, the Washington Post reports.
The president is accused of inciting riots by urging his supporters at a rally on Wednesday to “fight” and march to the Capitol, where Congress counted voting votes and the election of President Joe Biden’s victory in the election in November.
Trump spent months on false conspiracy theories about voter fraud and election, while falsely insisting that his race had been “stolen” from him and that he was the rightful winner. At the rally on Wednesday, the president reiterated the allegations, adding, “We will never concede,” as his supporters cheered.
Thereafter, a crowd of them stormed the U.S. Capitol, collided with police, broke into the building, looted law enforcement offices and came as far as the House and Senate floor.
At the time, lawmakers were debating a Republican challenge to Arizona’s election votes, but both chambers were forced to go into recession because members, Hill staff members and reporters were hiding in their place or behind temporary barriers. The attempted coup by the pro-Trump mob resulted in five deaths, including one Capitol police officer.
When Congress reconvened more than six hours later and after the building was finally secured, McConnell condemned the rioters with force.
“The Senate of the United States will not be intimidated,” he said. “We will not be kept out of this room by thugs, crowds or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We will fulfill our duty under the Constitution and for our country.”
McConnell added: “Even during an ongoing armed rebellion and the civil war, our democracy continued. The United States and the United States Congress faced far greater threats than the unscrupulous crowd we saw today.”
“They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed,” he said. “This failed uprising underscores just how important the task is for our republic.”
Congress counted the voting votes shortly before 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, confirming Biden’s victory.
The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, DC, said Thursday night that federal prosecutors are investigating Trump’s role in inciting the insurgency.
“We look at all the actors here, not just the people who entered the building, but … there were others who may have helped or facilitated this, or played an additional role,” U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said in a phone call told reporters. call.
The Post reports that Sherwin, when specifically asked if it included Trump, responded: ‘We look at all the actors here and everyone who has had a role. If the evidence matches the element of a crime, they will be charged. “
Following Sherwin’s comments, the president released a video condemning the violence at the Capitol. The New York Times later reported that the president resisted opposition to the recording of the message and only applauded when he realized he could experience direct problems as a result of the riots.