According to sources close to him, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not planning on speaking to former President Donald Trump ever again.
The Washington Post reported, “McConnell has not spoken with Trump since Dec. 14 — the day McConnell acknowledged President Biden won the November election — and he does not plan to ever speak with him again, people close to him say.”
It continued, “Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal details. Even the back channel the two men once had — between McConnell’s former top aide Josh Holmes and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner — is now cold.”
Trump went after McConnell in a statement just a few days after the senate minority leader voted to acquit him on the charge of inciting an insurrection, as IJR reported.
“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said.
The sources do not “expect the veteran Senate leader to carry his personal dispute with Trump any further.”
McConnell’s former top aide Josh Holmes said he would be “very surprised” if he speaks to Trump again.
“If you told Mitch McConnell that every single day he’d receive a love letter from Donald Trump excoriating his physical appearance and ultimately he ended up with the majority in 2022, he’d take the deal in a heartbeat,” he added.
CNN’s Manu Raju reported McConnell read Trump’s statement and laughed, as IJR reported.
A source close to McConnell said, “You probably are not going to hear him utter the name Donald Trump ever again.”
They added, “He’s moving on.”
After McConnell voted to acquit Trump, he called him “practically and morally responsible” for the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, as IJR reported.
Don Thrasher, chairman of the Nelson County Republican Party in Kentucky, called on McConnell to resign over his remarks.
“Given that the county party that I represent supports President Trump overwhelmingly and your complete and total disdain for the will of your constituents here in Nelson County I am formally demanding you immediately resign your leadership position within our party’s caucus in the United States Senate,” Thrasher wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
