Mitch McConnell Endorses Donald Trump; Senate GOP Leader Had Blasted Former POTUS Over January 6th Attacks

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he was backing Donald Trump’s presidential bid, even though he had blamed and blasted the former president for his “disgraceful” role in the January 6th attacks on the Capitol.

Trump also has used racist remarks against McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. Trump has called her “coco chow.”

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In a statement, McConnell said, per the AP, “It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”

McConnell’s backing is little surprise: he had signaled that he would support the GOP nominee, whoever it was, even after the attack on the Capitol. He made today’s announcement shortly after Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race, clearing the way for Trump to clinch the nomination later this month.

But McConnell has had a rift with Trump since 2020 when, as majority leader, the Kentucky senator said that Joe Biden had won the presidential election.

Last week, McConnell announced that he was stepping down as Republican leader in November, but would serve out his Senate term.

McConnell declined to convict Trump after he was impeached in 2021 over his role in the attack on the Capitol. But in a speech, he said that Trump was guilty of a “dereliction of duty” and “morally responsible” for the siege on the Capitol and that it should be up to the courts to decide whether he should face criminal charges.

Although McConnell has said little about Trump’s attacks on Chao, she issued a statement to Politico last year in which she said, “When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”

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