WORLD / Politics

McConnell says Capitol mob were 'fed lies' and ‘provoked by the president’

Many Republican senators have been waiting for a sign from the Senate majority leader before deciding whether to convict Trump

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office from the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. | BLOOMBERG

By Nicholas Fandos
The New York Times

Jan 20, 2021

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said on Tuesday that the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 had been "provoked by the president and other powerful people,” stating publicly for the first time that he holds President Donald Trump at least partly responsible for the assault.

"The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said, referring to attempts by Trump to overturn the election based on bogus claims of voter fraud. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

McConnell made the remarks on his last full day as majority leader, speaking on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration and as the Senate was bracing to receive a single article of impeachment from the House charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection.”