"The Senate's decision today does not condone anything that happened on or before that terrible day," he said. But while a recent ABC News poll showed that most Americans were supportive of convicting and barring Trump from holding future office, GOP senators faced a different kind of pressure: More than eight in 10 Republicans opposed it. In November, McConnell won re-election in his deep-red state of Kentucky for another six-year term, which expires in 2026. The reserved and meticulous McConnell had a complicated relationship with the bombastic former president - his polar opposite in personality, but mostly a loyal ally during his presidency, and unified in many shared policy pursuits, such as cutting taxes and appointing conservative judges. McConnell said the deadly riot was the product of "increasingly wild myths" and "an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters' decision, or else torch our institutions on the way out."īut despite all the criticism, he said he voted "not guilty" because he believes Trump is "constitutionally not eligible for conviction" given that he is no longer president. "And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet earth," he continued. "The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president." No question about it," the Kentucky Republican said Saturday. "There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.
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