Donald Trump attacked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week, calling him a "disloyal sleaze bag" after the January 6 House Select committee played clips of him working to clear the Capitol during the insurrection.
The former president posted a number of irate messages on his Truth Social platform before, during and after the panel's live hearing on the Capitol attack Thursday night.
In one post, Trump appeared to react to never-before-seen footage of McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling then-Secretary of Defense Chris Miller from a secure location on January 6.
.@RepElaineLuria shows a video of a portion of a call that Congressional leaders had on January 6th with the former acting secretary of defense.#January6thHearing pic.twitter.com/jZcXBMg8Kv — CSPAN (@cspan) July 22, 2022
"We're not going to let these people keep us from finishing our business," McConnell said in the video, in an apparent reference to the certification of the 2020 election results which the Trump supporters attempted to prevent with the attack.
"So we need you to get the building cleared, give us the OK so we can go back in session and finish up the people's business as soon as possible," McConnell said.
In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump said: "Is this the same Mitch McConnell who was losing big in Kentucky, and came to the White House to BEG me for an Endorsement and help? Without me he would have lost in a landslide. A disloyal sleaze bag!"
The latest January 6 hearing focused on Trump's 187 minutes of inaction as the violence was unfolding, including failing to call any law enforcement or government agency who could help to end the riot and merely watching it unfold from the White House dining room.
Instead, the panel said it was Vice President Mike Pence and Congressional leaders who were taking the necessary steps to stop the violence.
The panel also played recorded testimony from Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said there were "two or three calls" with Pence on January 6.
"He was very animated and he issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders," Milley said, adding Pence was "very firm" in telling Miller "Get the military down here, get the guard down here, put down this situation."
Since January 6, McConnell has spoken out against Trump's and the Republican National Committee's assessment of the attack.
In February, he criticized the RNC for censuring Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger—the only two Republicans on the January 6 House Select Committee—and its description of the riot as "legitimate political discourse."
"Let me give you my view of what happened on January 6. We saw what happened," McConnell told reporters on February 8. "It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next."
McConnell also spoke out against Trump's suggestion that he would pardon those convicted for the role in the Capitol riot, saying he would "not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences" for those who plead guilty.
"The election of 2020 was decided December 14 of 2020 when the Electoral College certified the winner of the election," McConnell said. "What we saw here on January the 6th was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which has never happened before in our country."
Newsweek has reached out to McConnell for comment.
Squirrel_Chucks on July 22nd, 2022 at 12:52 UTC »
Umm, I agree that Mitch McConnell is a sleaze bag...
...but he won his general election by like +20%
At no point was he losing.
Trump always says the people who he doesn't like beg him for shit. Maybe he regards all requests as begging
"Hey, Donald. Pass the salt?"
"He BEGGED me for the salt!"
roughingupthesuspect on July 22nd, 2022 at 12:30 UTC »
Just a reminder... No One needs to be loyal to Donald Trump... Your loyalty will not be repaid and is not relevant with regard to the operations of the US Government.
SewAlone on July 22nd, 2022 at 12:16 UTC »
Trump, the man accused of rape and sexual assault by dozens of women, who raped and ripped out the hair of his exwife, who has cheated hard working people out of money for decades, who said he'd fuck his daughter, who extorted a foreign nation to help him cheat in an election, who downplayed Covid and masks when he thought only people in blue districts were dying, who buddied up with our enemies and made enemies of our allies, who passed a tax cut on the wealthy as a bribe, who bullies and harasses anyone who doesn't agree with him, who throws food at the walls, who tried to dismantle and then overthrow our government calls someone equally evil a sleeze bag because no one, and I mean no one, will outsleeze the sleeze king.