Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly told a New York Times journalist in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection that he was “exhilarated” by the potential damage to then-President Trump, according to a new book.
McConnell’s comments were reported by Jonathan Martin, a New York Times journalist who wrote about the conversation in his and Alexander Burns’s new book, “This Will Not Pass.”
McConnell reportedly felt “exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself.”
The exchange was reported by The Washington Post, The Independent and a number of other outlets who obtained excerpts of the book.
The conversation reportedly took place early on Jan. 7, 2021, just hours after the Capitol was ransacked by a group of Trump’s supporters.
“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell said, according to the book. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Martin and Burns also write that the Republican senator asked them “What do you hear about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment?” and said he was “eager for intelligence about whether his fellow Republicans were discussing removing Trump from office,” the Post added.
They added in the book that the Kentucky politician “seemed almost buoyant” and that he said Trump was “pretty thoroughly discredited”.
In separate excerpts of the book, McConnell was previously quoted as telling advisers on Jan. 11, 2021, that “the Democrats are going to take care of the son of a bitch for us,” referring to impeachment, and also said that “if this isn’t impeachable, I don’t know what is.”
Trump and McConnell saw their relationship deteriorate toward the end of Trump’s term in office. Despite his comments following the insurrection, McConnell did not vote to convict Trump in the Senate over his role in the Jan. 6 attack.
He has also said he would back Trump if he became the GOP’s nominee for the White House in 2024.
The former president has openly slammed the minority leader on multiple occasions in recent months and regularly refers to him as “Old Crow.”
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
This news comes after a reports surfaced that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told his GOP colleagues he would recommend that Trump resign if he was impeached over the events of Jan. 6, 2021.