LOSE MY NUMBER: McConnell revealed to have rejected Trump calls on Jan. 6th
Ever since the release of the White House call logs — turned over to the January 6th Select Committee while the pieces of the insurrection puzzle are still coming together — there are still more questions remaining than answers.
The public is finally getting a clearer picture of who was involved. Now, we need to know what was said.
Donald Trump’s first call, at 8:34 AM, was to former Navy Seal and special ops platoon commander (turned lawyer and MAGA cook), Kurt Olsen. Virtually an unknown, Olsen endeared himself to Trump with crazy theories and jumped on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to overturn election results. Olsen’s law firm, the one he co-founded, wasted no time scrubbing his entire presence from the firm after his involvement with the legal efforts to keep Trump in office was revealed.
The usual suspects appear — Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani. But it is one particular call that stands out — a call to Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
These former allies turned into adversaries, and the bromance officially ended after McConnell publicly congratulated President-Elect Joe Biden on his electoral college victory on December 15, 2020.
This did not bode well with the soon-to-be ex-President. Trump called McConnell and berated him for his lack of loyalty and support. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Trump asked McConnell “And this is the thanks I got?” He then complained “You never really got me. You don’t understand me.”
According to McConnell that would be the last conversation he had with Donald Trump.
Of course, this begs the question – why would Trump possibly be calling McConnell on the morning of January 6th?
The call logs show that at 10:40 AM, there was an unsuccessful attempt to reach McConnell – resulting in a voicemail. An aide for the Senator confirmed there was an attempt, and a message was left. The first attempt, however, was actually made almost an hour and a half prior, at 9:16 am. And that call McConnell declined to take.
That leaves even more questions. The 9:16 AM call came after a call to then-Vice President Mike Pence – at 9:02 AM, and before a call at 9:24 AM to Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Neither the aide nor McConnell have elaborated on exactly why the Senator rejected Trump’s call – nor have they given details on what was said in the message.
There is no record that McConnell attempted to call his former boss back. When prodded by a reporter as to why he refused Trump’s call, the always calculating McConnell said this:
“I’ve said repeatedly the last time I spoke to the president was the day after the Electoral College declared President Biden the winner. I publicly congratulated President Biden on his victory and received a phone call after that from President Trump, and that’s the last time we’ve spoken.”
While the fact they haven’t “spoken” since December, that doesn’t mean he didn’t attempt to return the call. But it’s highly unlikely.
After being yelled at during their last communication and publicly criticized and condemned by The Former Guy, I wouldn’t blame McConnell for not exactly being “eager” to be on the receiving end of more verbal abuse.
There’s that, and quite frankly, McConnell simply didn’t — and doesn’t still — need Trump anymore. He had his federal judges and a stacked Supreme Court. There was nothing for him to gain by engaging with a temper tantrum throwing man-child with one foot out the presidential door.
If only the rest of the Republican Party would follow McConnell’s lead on ghosting Trump. Then again, the fact that they haven’t means that the Dems still have a shot of retaining their majorities in Congress with a Republican opposition still split with divided loyalties.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
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