Trump celebrates acquittal; GOP’s McConnell roasts him for ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’

• By NPR

Following Saturday’s vote acquitting former President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., excoriated Trump for his actions on the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling them a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

But he said ultimately, he did not vote to convict the former president because of constitutional concerns.

“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said shortly after the 57-43 Senate vote that ended in the former president’s acquittal.

“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” he said, “and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”

Trump, meanwhile, did not mention the Jan. 6 attack or condemn the violence in his statement. He called the impeachment trial part of a “witch-hunt” perpetuated against him by “one political party,” ignoring the fact that the vote against him was bipartisan, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats in the House to impeach and seven Republicans joining with Democrats in the Senate.

Trump thanked the senators who he said “stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.”

And he thanked his supporters: “We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future.”

Yet the Jan. 6 attack represented an assault against the Constitution and the U.S. electoral system.

Trump’s election-fraud lies led many to believe the election was stolen from him. Trump publicly invited supporters to come to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, and thousands showed up to protest Congress’ certification of the election results. In a speech just before Congress was to certify Biden’s victory, Trump urged supporters to go to the Capitol and “’fight like hell” or they’re “not going to have a country anymore” because America “will be destroyed” if Joe Biden is president. Mobs then violently forced their way into the Capitol as lawmakers and others scrambled to protect themselves.

McConnell rebuked Trump for his actions after the insurrection as well.

“He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored,” he said.

“No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily — happily — as the chaos unfolded,” he said. “Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger.”

But McConnell said that the process of impeachment and conviction is a “limited tool” and that he believes Trump is not “constitutionally eligible for conviction.”

“The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal,” he said.

He said that the text of the question of constitutionality is “legitimately ambiguous” and that he “respects” his colleagues for reaching either the conclusion to acquit or convict.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the seven Republicans who voted to convict in separate remarks after the vote, saying, “I salute those Republican patriots who did the right thing. It wasn’t easy. We know that.”

The New York Democrat called Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 a “textbook example” of an impeachable offense.

“Let it live on in infamy, a stain on Donald John Trump that can never, never be washed away,” he said.