Trump- McConnell feud threatens Republicans’ path to power

By STEVE PEOPLES, JILL COLVIN and BRIAN SLODYSKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is escalating a political war within his own party that could undermine the Republican push to fight President Joe Biden’s agenda and ultimately return to power.

A day after blistering Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, as a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack,” Trump repeated his baseless claim on Wednesday that he was the rightful winner of the November election in a series of interviews with conservative outlets after nearly a month of self-imposed silence.

Trump also continued to attack McConnell, accusing the Senate GOP leader of failing to stand up for Republicans after McConnell blasted Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot despite voting to acquit the former president at his second impeachment trial.

“The Republicans are soft. They only hit their own, like Mitch,” Trump complained on Newsmax. “If they spent the same time hitting (Senate Democratic leader Chuck) Schumer and (President Joe) Biden, the Republicans would be much better off, that I can tell you.”

Republican officials in several battlegrounds carried by Biden, including Georgia and Arizona, have said the vote was fair. Trump’s legal claims surrounding the vote were rejected by judges across the political spectrum, including many appointed by the former president. McConnell himself described Trump’s contention as an “unhinged falsehood.”