US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday (local time) said that he has not spoken to former President Donald Trump since mid-December, confirming media reports that the Senate Republican leader has cut off personal contact with Trump.
"The last time I spoke with him was the day after I declared that Biden had obviously won the election after the Electoral College [voted on] December 14. It would have been December 15," McConnell told reporters as quoted by The Hill.
The GOP (Grand Old Party: another name for the Republican Party) Senate leader's statement comes after associates reported that the then-Senate Majority leader was "furious" over pro-Trump rioters storming the US Capitol on January 6 that was instigated by Trump's claims -- sans evidence -- of a "fraudulent election" and how he won the election "by a lot".
McConnell however declined to say that the former President committed an impeachable offence by inciting an insurrection. "With regard to impeachment issues, we are going to be addressing that in great depth here beginning shortly. We are going to be sworn in," he said.
The Hill further reported that the GOP Senator declined for weeks to publicly acknowledge Joe Biden as president-elect after the November 3 election while Trump and his legal team pursued claims of widespread election fraud in courts.
The Electoral College voted on December 14 to formally elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. The vote was 306 to 232 -- the same margin by which Trump defeated then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. McConnell congratulated Biden as president-elect on the Senate floor on December 15.
( With inputs from ANI )
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