• Mitch McConnell hit out at Donald Trump immediately after the latter was referred to the DOJ for prosecution.
• In a statement, McConnell claimed that “total country appreciates who is accountable” for the Capitol riot, with out instantly naming Trump.
• The January 6 panel on Monday asked the DOJ to prosecute Trump on 4 expenses connected to the riot.

Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell on Monday zinged previous President Donald Trump following the latter was referred to the Justice Department for prosecution over the January 6 Capitol riot. 

“The overall nation appreciates who is accountable for that day. Beyond that, I never have any fast observations,” McConnell said in a assertion to CNN, the information outlet’s Manu Raju tweeted Monday.  

McConnell’s statement came after the House panel investigating the Capitol riot on Monday questioned the Justice Division to prosecute Trump on 4 charges. These involved: conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to make fake statements obstruction of an official continuing, and inciting an insurrection.

When this referral does not suggest Trump will be prosecuted, it now hands the issue around to the Justice Section, which can choose if it wishes to charge Trump. 

McConnell’s assertion will come close to two years following he blamed Trump for the riot during a February 2021 Senate speech. For the duration of that speech, McConnell rebuked the previous president for his “disgraceful dereliction of obligation” — in spite of voting that identical day to acquit Trump in his next impeachment trial. 

“There is no query — none — that President Trump is pretty much and morally liable for provoking the gatherings of the working day,” McConnell explained of Trump at the time. “The people that stormed this building thought they were being acting on the needs and recommendations of their president.”

“A mob was assaulting a Capitol in his identify. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him,” McConnell included. 

McConnell has had a long-standing feud with Trump

McConnell’s assertion on Monday marks the most current salvo in a very long-standing feud amongst him and the former president. 

In November 2021, Trump slammed McConnell and other Republicans who backed President Joe Biden’s infrastructure invoice, contacting them “RINOs,” an acronym for Republicans In Name Only. That same thirty day period, he also gave McConnell the moniker “Old Crow” and accused him of “jeopardizing” other Republican senators’ reelection odds.

In February, McConnell shrugged off rumors that Trump could succeed in an attempt to oust him as the Senate GOP chief immediately after the midterms. That was right after Trump in January identified as McConnell a “loser” for defending GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. Rounds had contradicted Trump’s voter fraud promises.

And in Oct, McConnell and his spouse, Trump-era Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, grew to become the concentrate on of Trump’s ire yet again. This was immediately after McConnell voiced assist in September for modifying the way Congress counts electoral votes, an exertion aimed at avoiding a Trump-design coup.

In a rant on Reality Social, Trump escalated his acrimonious feud with the Kentucky senator, and accused McConnell of opposing him simply because he has a “demise want.” Trump also leveled a racially charged insult at Chao, calling her McConnell’s “China loving spouse, Coco Chow.”

McConnell has mainly stayed out of the mud-slinging — though in May well, he did troll Trump by providing out bottles of the Kentucky-manufactured Aged Crow bourbon to GOP senators through a luncheon in his dwelling state.

McConnell has also refrained from responding to Trump’s insults about his spouse. 

Associates for McConnell and Trump did not instantly react to Insider’s requests for remark.