5 times Mitch McConnell publicly criticized Trump since the ex-president left the White House
5 times Mitch McConnell publicly criticized Trump since the ex-president left the White House
Bryan Metzger
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
McConnell and Trump have a poor relationship and haven't spoken since December 2020.
In contrast to some other Republicans, McConnell tries to keep his criticism of Trump to a minimum.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump do not have a good relationship — or much of a relationship to speak of at all.
According to McConnell himself, the last time the two men spoke was on December 15, 2020, the day after the Electoral College declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Though McConnell cooperated heavily with Trump during his presidency, that relationship became strained as the former president continued to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 election and sought to overturn its results. Following the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, McConnell joined other Republican leaders in publicly blaming Trump for the incident.
But unlike other Republicans, such as Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, McConnell has sought to keep his public criticism of the former president to a minimum, even as Trump has repeatedly criticized him in harsh terms and called for his ouster as Senate Republican leader.
Nonetheless, occasionally Trump's actions or statements have prompted the mild-mannered McConnell to respond.
Here are the five times in the last two years when that's happened:
The first time the Senate re-convened after January 6
On January 19, 2021, as the Senate convened for the first time following the January 6 attacks, McConnell in a floor speech blamed Trump for inciting the mob.
"This mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people," he said. "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."
Trump's 2nd impeachment trial
On February 13, 2021, after voting to acquit Trump for incitement of an insurrection during his second impeachment trial, McConnell expanded on his prior remarks blaming Trump for the riot.
"Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty," he said. "There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day."
On November 29, 2022, McConnell opened his weekly press conference by implicitly criticizing Trump for dining with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Kanye West, who now goes by Ye.
"Let me just say that there is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy," said McConnell. "And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected President of the United States.
After Trump suggested he wanted to 'terminate' the Constitution
On December 6, 2022, after Trump issued a statement on Truth Social suggesting that the "termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution" were warranted by his false claims of a stolen 2020 election, McConnell again opened his weekly press conference with an implicit denunciation.
"First, let me just say that anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me, would have a very hard time being sworn in as President of the United States," he said.
When asked whether he should've intervened in more GOP primaries
On December 13, 2022, when asked at his weekly press conference whether he plans to get more involved in future GOP Senate primaries following a disappointing showing in the 2022 midterms, McConnell pinned some of the blame for poor "candidate quality" on Trump.
"Our ability to control a primary outcome was quite limited in [2022] because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries," he told reporters at his weekly press conference at the Capitol. "So my view was: do the best you can with the cards you're dealt."
"Hopefully in the next cycle, we'll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome," he added.
