Former President Donald Trump claimed he would still be in the White House if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would have followed through on supporting Trump’s stolen election claims, according to an excerpt from New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns‘ new book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future.
“Had Mitch stuck with many members of the party who knew the election was rigged, I think we wouldn’t be at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump. “We would be at the White House having this conversation.”
McConnell and Trump have had a rocky relationship since January 6, 2021.
A different excerpt of the book reported that McConnell had said, “I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow [Trump] finally, totally discredited himself,” following the Capitol attack.
“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell added. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
This Will Not Pass claims that multiple high-ranking GOP members privately criticized Trump, but they were hesitant to publically speak out against him for fear of potential damages to their political careers.
Last month, newly released audio recordings outed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for privately supporting Trump’s resignation after the Capitol attack. McCarthy later said he spoke to Trump and there were no hard feelings between the two, and that he never thought or asked Trump to resign.
