Donald Trump criticizes the Republican lawmaker Mitch McConnell, who blamed the former US president for the uprising at the Capitol.
In the latest example of a growing rift in the United States Republican Party following the impeachment of Donald Trump, the former US president cracked down on Mitch McConnell, the chairman of the Senate minority, on Tuesday.
“Mitch is a grumpy, grumpy, unsmiling political hacker, and if Republican senators stay with him, they won’t win again,” Trump said in a statement.
McConnell voted on February 13 to acquit the former president in an impeachment trial against the U.S. Senate accusing Trump of inciting a crowd of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The Senate ultimately did not have enough votes to condemn Trump for “inciting insurrection”.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit the former president of instigating the January 6 riot when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US capital, killing five [Al Drago/Reuters]But in a post-vote speech, McConnell, once a solid supporter of the former president, made an outright reprimand against Trump, blaming him for the uprising that killed five people.
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” said McConnell from the Senate.
“The people who stormed this building believed they were responding to the wishes and orders of their president.”
McConnell’s speech and the fact that seven Republican senators voted to condemn Trump showed that some Republican lawmakers want the party to distance itself from Trump.
However, the former Republican president remains in control of the party and his supporters – including several Republican lawmakers in Congress – stay firmly behind him.
“The Republican Party can never be respected or strong again with political” leaders “like Senator Mitch McConnell at the top,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.
He also said he would support “major Republican competitors working to make America great again and our America first” policies.
Former US President Donald Trump appeared to take advantage of the opportunity on Tuesday to lose his stranglehold on the Republican Party [File: Jim Bourg/Reuters]Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Wisconsin, said Trump’s statement was “a blistering declaration of civil war within the Republican Party.”
Trump does not take McConnell’s critical speech lightly after the impeachment process in the Senate, Hendren said.
“He’s attacking Mitch McConnell and essentially saying he’s on one side of the Republican Party, the rest of the Republican Party is on the moderate side. And he essentially declares war on that side of the party. “
Republican lawmakers have been criticized by their respective Republican parties for their support for the Trump indictment.
Republican leaders in North Carolina voted to blame Senator Richard Burr for his vote to convict Trump during the Senate trial.
The Louisiana Republican Party voted Saturday to reprimand Senator Bill Cassidy as Republican Party leaders in Pennsylvania and Maine also prepare to reprimand Senators Pat Toomey and Susan Collins for their condemning votes.
However, there is little evidence that McConnell will reverse his criticism of Trump.
In a statement in The Wall Street Journal, published Monday, Republican leader Trump slammed again ahead of the Capitol uprising for “the awkward lies he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone.”
“His behavior during and after the chaos was also incomprehensible, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the uprising to praising criminals after it ended,” wrote McConnell.
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