Mitch McConnell throws other Republicans under bus in attempt to excuse attacks on Trump

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) responded to reports on withering criticism he leveled at Donald Trump which was revealed Thursday in a forthcoming biography.

Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press, wrote in his new book, "The Price of Power," that McConnell had called the former president “stupid as well as being ill-tempered,” a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist.”

McConnell issued a statement to the news organization after those remarks were reported.

“Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what J.D. Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now," McConnell said.

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Vance, who is now Trump's running mate, once referred to the former president as a "moral disaster" and possibly "America’s Hitler," and Graham famously said "count me out" on Trump hours after the Jan. 6 insurrection, although both GOP senators later withdrew their criticism.

"Perhaps needless to say, but this is not a resounding affirmation of Trump from McConnell," said Washington Post columnist Aaron Blake. "It's simply noting that other allies also once trashed him and noting they are now on the 'same team' (which is an objective statement of fact rather than praise)."

McConnell reportedly made the critical remarks shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and while he publicly condemned his actions leading up to the riot he felt impeachment was unnecessary because he believed the justice would punish him for inciting the attack.