Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday refused to opine on whether former President Donald Trump ought to face charges related to Jan. 6, 2021, amid the former president’s claim to have received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith’s office as part of his probe.
“I’ve said every week out here that I’m not going to comment on the various candidates for the presidency,” McConnell said, per The Hill, in response to questions about a prospective Trump indictment. “How I felt about that I expressed at the time, but I’m not going to start getting into sort of critiquing the various candidates for president.”
The Kentucky lawmaker publicly condemned the events of the Capitol riot and had harsh words for the former president over the development at the time.
Trump, for his part, announced on Tuesday that he had received a target letter from Smith’s office, seemingly signaling he would face an indictment. The special counsel has already brought charges against Trump related to the seizure of documents from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and indictment,” he stated on Truth Social.
That announcement has triggered pushback from Trump allies such as Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has vowed to introduce legislation to defund Smith’s investigations.