In a striking revelation, a new biography set for release just days before the upcoming election paints Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a quiet but determined critic of former President Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6 Capitol protests.
According to The Price of Power, written by journalist Michael Tackett, McConnell believed Trump’s behavior warranted legal consequences, fully supporting Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations. McConnell reportedly told Tackett, “If [Trump] hasn’t committed indictable offenses, I don’t know what one is,” underscoring his conviction that Trump’s actions leading up to the January 6 riot deserved federal scrutiny.
McConnell’s private frustrations with Trump are well-documented, but this book seems to delve deeper into the Kentucky senator’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering. The biography suggests McConnell seriously considered voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial, a decision that could have led to Trump being barred from seeking office again.
Despite ultimately voting to acquit on procedural grounds—arguing Trump was no longer in office—McConnell left little doubt about his view of Trump’s role in the Capitol unrest. His comments on Trump’s responsibility were blunt: “I just hope that he’ll have to pay a price for it.”
New footage from Jan 6 shows undercover DC cops acting as provocateurs and pushing people towards the Capitol pic.twitter.com/9DCyNHld12
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) March 25, 2023
This account casts light on McConnell’s long-standing tension with Trump. It reveals how McConnell, despite publicly toeing the party line, internally grappled with Trump’s behavior and its implications for the GOP. His reported 2022 meeting with Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, arranged through former House Speaker Paul Ryan, highlights his deep concerns about the former president’s grip on the Republican Party and its media allies.
McConnell’s dismay at the direction of the party, particularly under Trump’s influence, comes through in these interviews, as he is said to have questioned whether Murdoch had ever truly supported Trump.
While McConnell’s statements in the book align him with the belief that Trump should face legal accountability, the biography also touches on the real-world limits of McConnell’s willingness to challenge the former president. His vote to acquit Trump in 2021, despite his harsh criticism, underscores the delicate balancing act McConnell has long maintained within the GOP—publicly opposing Trump in certain areas while refusing to break with him completely.
The revelations come at a time when Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump continues to loom large over the 2024 election, with the trial expected to stretch into early next year. While McConnell has distanced himself from the more extreme elements of the GOP, his pointed critiques of Trump in this new book add another layer of complexity to his legacy and to the Republican Party’s evolving internal dynamics as the 2024 election approaches.
