Day After Jan. 6, ‘Exhilarated’ McConnell Thought Trump ‘Totally Discredited Himself’

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly felt vindicated the morning after the deadly Capitol insurrection last year, telling a New York Times reporter that he was “exhilarated” about the potential damage to then-President Trump after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol and endangered lawmakers’ lives.

In excerpts of a new book by New York Times reporters titled “This Will Not Pass” that were obtained by the Washington Post, McConnell reportedly shared his thoughts about the then-President to Jonathan Martin, one of the authors of the book, the morning after the insurrection.

Asked about his feelings about the violence that ensued as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, McConnell told Martin that he felt “exhilarated by the fact” that Trump “finally, totally discredited himself,” according to the Post.

McConnell reportedly reiterated that he thought Trump “was pretty thoroughly discredited by this.”

According to the book, McConnell also asked Martin: “What do you hear about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment?” The then-Senate majority leader was reportedly eager for intelligence about whether the Cabinet and then-Vice President Mike Pence would consider ousting Trump from office in light of the insurrection, the Post reported.

McConnell, at the time, reportedly said he spoke with then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) about issuing a joint statement advising Trump to stay away from then-President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The statement never came to fruition.

The book also reportedly details McConnell’s rebuke of Trump in private remarks to his staff. McConnell told his staff that Trump is a “despicable person” and that he was determined to take the then-President and his allies down in the 2022 midterm elections.

“We crushed the sons of bitches, and that’s what we’re going to do in the primary in ’22” McConnell told Martin, according to the Post.

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