Trump lashes out at McConnell over post-acquittal critique

“Mayor Giuliani is not currently representing President Trump is any legal matters.” Trump spokesman Jason Miller

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of insults at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who last week voted to acquit Trump but also said the former president bore responsibility for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

In a statement, Trump criticized McConnell and said the Kentucky Republican “begged” Trump for his support in his 2020 reelection to the Senate. Trump also threatened to back primary challengers to lawmakers who are not aligned with him.

“Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership,” Trump warned.

Trump criticized McConnell’s intellect, his appearance and more, saying the leader lacks

“political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality” and describing him as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.”

The former president said that he “regrets” giving McConnell his endorsement last year and that the veteran politician would have lost had it not been for Trump. McConnell won another term by nearly 20 percentage points over Democrat Amy McGrath.

Trump blamed McConnell for Republicans losing two Senate seats from Georgia, where Trump continued to perpetuate the unfounded claims that the presidential election was rigged. He said McConnell did nothing about the elections in that state; there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Georgia.

“He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will,” Trump said in the statement.

“This is a big moment for our country, and we cannot let it pass by using third rate ‘leaders’ to dictate our future!” Trump said.

Meanwhile, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is no longer the former president’s personal attorney, a Trump spokesman said Tuesday.

“Mayor Giuliani is not currently representing President Trump is any legal matters,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. Miller added in a tweet that Giuliani “remains an ally and a friend.”

News of the move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Giuliani has been one of Trump’s most steadfast defenders, but their relationship has frayed in recent months, according to people with knowledge of the dynamics between the two men.

Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two former Trump officials previously told The Washington Post, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the former president’s behalf to challenge the 2020 election results in key states.

The officials said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election.

The news also comes weeks after YouTube suspended Giuliani from participating in its ad revenue sharing program, cutting off one of the ways Giuliani has been making money from his legions of followers.

Dominion Voting Systems is suing Giuliani for $1.3 billion, saying he used his social media posts to make damaging, false claims that the company had engaged in election manipulation.

In Trump’s statement about McConnell, he criticized the Chinese business interests of McConnell’s family, including his wife, former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, who was part of Trump’s administration for nearly four years.

Trump did not name Chao in the statement, which was issued through his Save America PAC. He said McConnell “has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat.”

The House Oversight and Reform Committee in 2019 investigated what it called “troubling questions” about whether Chao misused her position for personal and family benefit. The panel cited media reports that Chao leveraged her position to help Foremost Group - a New Yorkbased shipping company that carries goods between the United States and China and that is owned by her father and sisters — gain “influence and status” with the Chinese government, which has given the firm millions of dollars in loans.

The Transportation Department rejected the allegations as “simply false.”