WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday endorsed Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House, following a dominant Super Tuesday performance by the former president.
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that, as nominee, he will have my support,” McConnell, of Kentucky, said.
The Senate minority leader was the highest-profile Republican who had yet to endorse Trump. When asked repeatedly whether he would back the former president in recent months, McConnell demurred, telling reporters he would back the party’s eventual nominee.
McConnell issued his endorsement shortly after former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley ended her campaign for the presidency.
In his statement Wednesday, McConnell highlighted the “great things” he and Trump had accomplished during his presidency, including remaking the federal judiciary and installing three conservative justices on the Supreme Court.
“I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people,” he said.
McConnell and Trump have long had a frosty relationship that turned even icier after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. McConnell voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial related to the Capitol riot, but he gave a speech laying blame for the mob’s attack directly on Trump. The two men did not speak for at least three years.
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it,” McConnell said on the Senate floor after Trump was acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”
McConnell has repeatedly broken with Trump and his supporters publicly in backing additional aid to Ukraine. Trump has also made racist attacks targeting McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Transportation secretary under the Trump administration.
Still, aides to both Republicans had been holding backchannel discussions seeking an endorsement for Trump from the Senate GOP leader, sources told NBC News last month.
McConnell, who has seen his grip on the Senate Republican conference wane as Trump’s has grown, announced that he will step down as leader at the end of the year.
Despite past public and private disagreements with Trump, McConnell previously said he would support the Republican nominee for president, even if it was Trump.
In February 2021, a month after the Capitol attack, McConnell told Fox News that he “absolutely” would get behind Trump if he became the Republican nominee in 2024.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the only other member of Senate GOP leadership who had not endorsed the former president, added her own endorsement on X not long after McConnell released his statement. “We must beat Joe Biden and get this country back on track. Donald Trump has my support,” she wrote.
McConnell’s lack of a relationship with Trump was cited by members of the Senate GOP conference as a reason why they thought it made sense for him to step down as leader at the end of this year.
Sarah Mimms, Summer Concepcion and Ryan Nobles contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
