Trump dismisses report McConnell tried to disinvite him from Biden inauguration

Former President Trump on Monday dismissed a report that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to have him disinvited from President Biden’s inauguration.

“From Election Day, November 3rd, the day I realized that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged, I would never have agreed to go to Joe Biden’s Inauguration. This decision was mine, and mine alone. The old broken-down Crow, Mitch McConnell, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in an emailed statement.

This statement comes after Politico obtained an excerpt from “Betrayal,” the new book from ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, that claimed McConnell sought to have Trump removed from the Biden inauguration guest list because he “felt he could not give Trump another opportunity to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”

Karl wrote McConnell sought to have the top four congressional leaders tell Trump to not attend the inauguration, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) rejected the plans, “arguing it would be an important message of unity.”

Trump ultimately did not attend the event, breaking from historical precedent.

The former president in his statement Monday also slammed Karl.

“According to third-rate reporter Jonathan Karl of ABC Fake News, McConnell unsuccessfully tried getting a letter signed by others for me not to go. This was nothing I ever heard of and actually, if he ever did get it signed, I probably would have held my nose and gone,” he said.

Trump also repeated his long-held claims — again without evidence — that the election “was rigged” and added that “the facts are clear, and Mitch McConnell did nothing.”

“He was probably too busy working on deals with China for his wife and family!” Trump added.

The Hill reached out to Trump and McConnell for comment.

Trump and McConnell have had a contentious relationship since January, when McConnell told Trump he would recognize Biden as president-elect, then vented anger with him after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has recently sought to amplify that feud.

Last week he slammed McConnell for voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill along with 18 other Senate Republicans.