WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to address the indictment of Donald Trump upon his return to the upper chamber this week, continuing his pattern of avoiding topics involving the former president.
“I may have hit my head, but I didn’t hit it that hard. Nice try,” McConnell told reporters who asked about the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner being criminally charged in a case involving an adult film star.
McConnell, 81, was absent from the Senate for a month due to a head injury.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which prosecutors said was part of an illegal “scheme” to deceive voters. He pleaded not guilty in a dramatic court appearance earlier this month.
While McConnell is keeping his silence, other Republicans have criticized the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, calling it politically charged and legally dubious. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), one of Trump’s biggest GOP critics, said Bragg “has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.”
In 2021, McConnell suggested that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his acts after voting not to convict him in his impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn’t get away with anything yet — yet,” McConnell said at the time.