Politico | Top Republican Mitch McConnell says Donald Trump ‘provoked’ US Capitol attackers
- ‘The mob was fed lies,’ the Senate majority leader says in his strongest condemnation yet of the president’s actions ahead of the coming impeachment trial
- McConnell has signalled that he is open to convicting Trump, though he has not yet said whether he would vote to do so
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Andrew Desiderio on politico.com on January 19, 2021.
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said President Donald Trump “provoked” the crowd that stormed the Capitol earlier this month as Congress was certifying the presidential election results, his strongest condemnation yet of the outgoing president’s actions that led to the violent insurrection targeting lawmakers.
McConnell’s remarks come as the Senate is awaiting formal transmission of the House’s impeachment article passed last week, which charged Trump with “wilful incitement of insurrection”.
The Kentucky Republican, who will soon become the minority leader when Democrats take control of the chamber later this week, has not yet said whether he would vote to convict the president in the Senate’s upcoming trial, which will begin after president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated and immediately once Pelosi sends the article across the Capitol.
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“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on the last full day of Trump’s presidency. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on.”