McConnell tried to disinvite Trump from Biden inaugural, book claims

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly tried to disinvite former President Trump from President Biden’s inauguration in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a new book.

ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl writes in his new book that 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,” according to an excerpt of “Betrayal” obtained by Politico.

McConnell wanted the four congressional leaders to tell Trump he had been disinvited from the constitutionally mandated event, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) rejected the plans, “arguing it would be an important message of unity” to have Trump be at the Capitol for the official transfer of power, Karl writes.

According to Karl, a top McConnell adviser then told Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that the Republican leader wanted to disinvite him from the gathering, and McCarthy separately informed the White House that McConnell wanted to disinvite the outgoing president from the event, prompting Trump to announce on Twitter that he had decided not to attend the inauguration.

That tweet, Politico noted, was the final one posted on his Twitter account before he was banned from the platform.

Karl’s book is set to be released on Tuesday.

Trump rejected Karl’s reporting in a statement on Monday, contending that he had known since Election Day that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration.

“I would never have agreed to go to Joe Biden’s Inauguration,” Trump wrote.

He added that McConnell, who he labeled as an “old broken-down Crow,” did not play a role in his decision, and said he never heard about a letter the Republican leader was looking to write.

The Hill reached out to McConnell for comment.

The new reporting from Karl further illustrates the deteriorating relationship between the former president and Republican leader.

Most recently, Trump has been knocking McConnell for voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill along with 18 other Senate Republicans.

In a statement on Saturday, the former president called the Republican leader an “Old Crow” while criticizing his decision to vote with Democrats on advancing the $1.2 trillion bill to Biden’s desk for final approval, contending that it will jeopardize their chances of securing reelection.

Updated at 5:28 p.m.