Former US president Donald Trump has launched a scathing personal attack on fellow Republican Mitch McConnell.
Relations soured between Mitch McConnell, left, and Donald Trump after the latter lost the presidential election. (file pic) Photo: AFP
"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," Trump said, "and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again."
McConnell, who led the Senate for years, voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial last week, but he then attacked him as "morally responsible" for the US Capitol riot because of his election fraud "lies".
In a speech on the Senate floor, he implied Trump should face criminal and civil litigation, because he was "still liable for everything he did while in office".
Trump hits back
Trump responded on Tuesday (US time) with his lengthiest statement since he left office a month ago.
"The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm," the press release reads.
McConnell's "lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality" had cost the Republicans control of the Senate following last November's elections, he said.
The former president said the Republican leader "begged" for his endorsement in his own Senate race, without which Trump claimed McConnell would have lost.
Trump also took aim at McConnell's stated intentions to stand in the way of future Trump-backed candidates.
The former president said he would back Republican primary challengers who "espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First".
McConnell "will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our country", Trump said.
"We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell's Beltway First agenda or Biden's America Last."
When did McConnell and Trump's relationship sour?
The two Republicans shared a cordial working relationship throughout Trump's presidency.
That changed, however, after Trump lost the presidential election.
McConnell said he had not spoken to Trump since mid-December.
The rift between them was exacerbated after the Capitol riot on 6 January, which led to the deaths of five people including a Capitol police officer.
Mitch McConnell has made it clear he holds Donald Trump responsible for the insurrection at the Capitol. (file pic) Photo: AFP
Trump, who was impeached by the House of Representatives in January for inciting the insurrection, was acquitted by the Senate last Saturday.
Only seven Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to convict Trump. McConnell and 42 other Republicans voted to acquit.
Despite voting to acquit, McConnell excoriated the former president on the Senate floor after the vote.
"There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," McConnell said.
"A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name," he said. "These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him."
The relationship between Trump and McConnell is not the only one to have soured over the past month.
On Tuesday, an adviser to Trump said that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has stopped doing legal work for the former president.
Giuliani is "not currently representing President Trump in any legal matters", said Jason Miller on CNN.
Trump reportedly tried to stop paying Giuliani's legal fees in a fit of irritation about being impeached a second time, US media reported in January.
Miller clarified on Twitter after the interview that Giuliani remains "an ally and a friend".
He explained that they were simply not working together because "there are no pending cases where Mayor Giuliani is representing the President".
- BBC