On Thursday, marking the first anniversary of the assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued a statement marking the event.
"January 6th, 2021 was a dark day for Congress and our country," said McConnell. "The United States Capitol, the seat of the first branch of our federal government, was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job."
But this statement was unacceptable to former Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), one of Trump's strongest critics from the right, who criticized McConnell for his apparent unwillingness to point to Trump as the instigator of that day's events.
McConnell blamed Trump far more clearly and forcefully in the immediate aftermath of the attack, saying, "Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day." However, he still voted against convicting the former president in his impeachment trial, claiming that he didn't want to apply the punishment to a president already out of office.
Subsequently, McConnell has also suggested he is open to reforming the Electoral Count Act, the law whose vagueness prompted Trump and his loyalists to lean on former Vice President Mike Pence to block Biden's electoral votes from being tallied. However, he is still opposed to the two voting rights bills under discussion in the Senate, that would prevent legislatures from undermining ballot access in the first place.
