Oct 19, 2021 - Politics & Policy

McConnell: GOP should move past Trump's "rehash" of 2020 election

Rebecca Falconer

Then-President Trump Sen. Mitch McConnell at the White House October 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. — Former President Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell at the White House. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Tuesday that Republicans should be looking to "the future and not the past" when asked about how comfortable he was with the GOP "embracing" former President Trump.

Why it matters: CNN's Manu Raju posed the question after Trump attended a GOP retreat last week, noting that McConnell had said the former president was "morally responsible for provoking the events" on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, per Business Insider.

What he's saying: "I think the American people are focusing on this administration, what it's doing to the country," McConnell replied.

He added that he hoped the 2022 midterms would be a referendum on the performance of President Biden's administration, "not a rehash of suggestions about what may have happened in 2020" — an apparent reference to Trump's continued false claims about his election loss.

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McConnell: GOP should move past Trump's "rehash" of 2020 election

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