Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was disappointed that his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell attended a meeting with Donald Trump, saying the Kentucky lawmaker should have been brave enough to refuse.
Mr. McConnell met and shook hands with Trump at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington in the first encounter between the two men since 2020.
After the event, McConnell told reporters that the meeting with Trump was “entirely positive” and noted that the former President received several standing ovations during his speech. Rep. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said McConnell sat next to Trump, and the former President spoke warmly about the Republican Senate leader.
In a subsequent media interview, Mr. Schumer said he believes McConnell is one of a number of “good Republicans” who “know in their hearts” that Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy and that it will be a “disaster” if he is re-elected to the White House in November. “McConnell should have had the courage not to show up,” he added.
Schumer is not alone in his criticisms. Former Republican Rep. and fierce Trump critic Liz Cheney also condemned McConnell, saying he knows Trump was responsible for the January 6 riots and should be “ashamed” that he did not sufficiently hold him to account.
In the weeks that followed the Capitol riots, McConnell said the “mob was fed lies” and “provoked” by Donald Trump, but he later voted to acquit the former President during his impeachment trial in the Senate. After voting to acquit, Senator McConnell reiterated his belief that Trump was ultimately responsible but still insisted the former President was not “constitutionally eligible for conviction.”
Trump visited Capitol Hill on June 13 for the first time since January 6 and met with House Republicans before dining with Senators. To celebrate Mr. Trump’s 78th birthday, lawmakers sang birthday songs and presented him with an American flag cake adorned with 45 candles, marking the fact that Trump was America’s 45th President.
