Following is the statement that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, delivered Saturday from the chamber floor after senators acquitted former president Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.
The Senate’s 57-43 vote in favor of impeachment did not achieve the required two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, which most analysts expected even as the trial continued into Saturday afternoon. Seven Republican senators joined with 50 Democrats and independents in voting “guilty.” McConnell voted not guilty.
McConnell called Donald Trump “practically and morally responsible” for his supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol, minutes after his acquittal vote.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen,” McConnell said. “He didn’t get away with anything. Yet.”
The following is not an official transcript but an early transcribed version of the speech provided by the Senate. McConnell’s office issued a release.
McCONNELL: JANUARY 6 WAS A DISGRACE. AMERICAN CITIZENS ATTACKED THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT. THEY USED TERRORISM TO TRY TO STOP A SPECIFIC PIECE OF DOMESTIC BUSINESS THEY DID NOT LIKE. FELLOW AMERICANS BEAT AND BLOODIED OUR OWN POLICE. THEY STORMED THE SENATE FLOOR, THEY TRIED TO HUNT DOWN THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. THEY BUILT A GALLOWS AND CHANTED ABOUT MURDERING THE VICE PRESIDENT. THEY DID THIS BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN FED WILD FALSEHOODS BY THE MOST POWERFUL MAN ON EARTH BECAUSE HE WAS ANGRY HE HAD LOST AN ELECTION. FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ACTIONS PRECEDED THE RIOT FOR A DISGRACEFUL — DISGRACEFUL DERELICTION OF DUTY.
THE HOUSE ACCUSED THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF, QUOTE, INCITEMENT. THAT IS A SPECIFIC TERM FROM THE CRIMINAL LAW. LET ME JUST PUT THAT ASIDE FOR A MOMENT AND REITERATE SOMETHING I SAID WEEKS AGO. THERE’S NO QUESTION, NONE, THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP IS PRACTICALLY AND MORALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVOKING THE EVENTS OF THE DAY. NO QUESTION ABOUT IT. THE PEOPLE THAT STORMED THIS BUILDING BELIEVED THEY WERE ACTING ON THE WISHES AND INSTRUCTIONS OF THEIR PRESIDENT. AND HAVING THAT BELIEF WAS A FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCE OF THE GROWING CRESCENDO OF FALSE STATEMENTS, CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND RECKLESS HYPERBOLE, WHICH THE DEFEATED PRESIDENT KEPT SHOUTING INTO THE LARGEST MEGAPHONE ON PLANET EARTH. THE ISSUE IS NOT ONLY THE PRESIDENT’S INTEMPERAMENT LANGUAGE ON JANUARY 6, IT IS NOT JUST HIS ENDORSEMENT OF REMARKS IN WHICH AN ASSOCIATE URGED, QUOTE, TRIAL BY COMBAT. IT WAS ALSO THE ENTIRE MANUFACTURED ATMOSPHERE OF LOOMING CATASTROPHE, THE INCREASINGLY WILD MYTHS — MYTHS ABOUT A REVERSE LANDSLIDE ELECTION THAT WAS SOMEHOW BEING STOLEN, SOME SECRET COUP BY OUR NOW-PRESIDENT. NOW I DEFENDED THE PRESIDENT’S RIGHTS TO BRING ANY COMPLAINTS TO OUR LEGAL SYSTEM, THE LEGAL SYSTEM SPOKE. THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SPOKE.
AS I STOOD UP AND SAID CLEARLY AT THAT TIME, THE ELECTION WAS SETTLED. IT WAS OVER. BUT THAT JUST REALLY OPENED A NEW CHAPTER OF EVEN WILDER — WHICH WOULDER AND — WILDER AND MORE UNFOUNDED CLAIMS. THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD CANNOT SPEND WEEKS THUNDERING THAT SHADOWY FORCES ARE STEALING OUR COUNTRY AND THEN FEIGN SURPRISE. WHEN PEOPLE BELIEVE HIM AND DO RECKLESS THINGS. SADLY, MANY POLITICIANS SOMETIMES MAKE OVERHEATED COMMENTS OR USE METAPHORS. WE SAW THAT THAT UNHINGED LISTENERS MIGHT TAKE LITERALLY, BUT THAT WAS DIFFERENT. THAT’S DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE SAW. THIS WAS AN INTENSIFYING CRESCENDO OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES, ORCHESTRATED BY AN OUTGOING PRESIDENT WHO SEEMED DETERMINED TO EITHER OVERTURN THE VOTERS’ DECISION OR ELSE TORCH OUR INSTITUTIONS ON THE WAY OUT. THE UNCONSCIONABLE BEHAVIOR DID NOT END WHEN THE VIOLENCE ACTUALLY BEGAN. WHATEVER OUR EX-PRESIDENT CLAIMS HE THOUGHT MIGHT HAPPEN THAT DAY , WHATEVER REACTION HE SAYS HE MEANT TO PRODUCE BY THAT AFTERNOON, WE KNOW HE WAS WATCHING THE SAME LIVE TELEVISION AS THE REST OF US. A MOB WAS ASSAULTING THE CAPITOL IN HIS NAME.
THESE CRIMINALS WERE CARRYING HIS BANNERS, HANGING HIS FLAGS, AND SCREAMING THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM. IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT ONLY PRESIDENT TRUMP COULD END THIS. HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD. FORMER AIDES PUBLICLY BEGGED HIM TO DO SO. LOYAL ALLIES FRANTICALLY CALLED THE ADMINISTRATION. THE PRESIDENT DID NOT ACT SWIFTLY. HE DID NOT DO HIS JOB. HE DIDN’T TAKE STEPS SO FEDERAL LAW COULD BE FAITHFULLY EXECUTED AND ORDER RE — AND OR RESTORED — AND ORDER RESTORED. NO. INSTEAD, ACCORDING TO PUBLIC REPORTS, HE WATCHED TELEVISION HAPPILY — HAPPILY AS THE CHAOS UNFOLDED. HE KEPT PRESSING HIS SCHEME TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION. NOW EVEN AFTER IT WAS CLEAR TO ANY REASONABLE OBSERVER THAT VICE PRESIDENT PENCE WAS IN SERIOUS DANGER, EVEN AS THE MOB CARRYING TRUMP BANNERS WAS BEATING COPS AND BREACHING PERIMETERS, THE PRESIDENT SENT A FURTHER TWEET ATTACKING HIS OWN VICE PRESIDENT.
NOW, PREDICTABLY AND FORESEABLY UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, MEMBERS OF THE MOB SEEMED TO INTERPRET THIS AS A FURTHER INSPIRATION TO LAWLESSNESS AND VIOLENCE, NOT SURPRISINGLY. LATER, EVEN WHEN THE PRESIDENT DID HALF HEARTILY BEGIN CALLING FOR PEACE, HE DIDN’T CALL RIGHT AWAY FOR THE RIOT TO END. HE DID NOT TELL THE MOB TO DEPART UNTIL EVEN LATER. AND EVEN THEN, WITH POLICE OFFICERS BLEEDING AND BROKEN GLASS COVERING CAPITOL FLOORS SHIELD AGAINST CRITICISM. ANYONE WHO DECRISIS HIS AWFUL BEHAVIOR IS ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING MILLIONS OF VOTERS. THAT’S AN ABSURD DEFLECTION. 74 MILLION AMERICANS HAVE — 74 MILLION AMERICANS DID NOT INVADE THE CAPITOL. HUNDREDS OF RIOTERS DID.
74 MILLION AMERICANS DID NOT ENGINEER THE CAMPAIGN OF DISINFORMATION AND RAGE THAT PRO-ADVOCATED IT — THATPROVOKED IT. ONE PERSON DID. JUST ONE. I’VE MADE MY VIEW OF THIS EPISODE VERY PLAIN, BUT OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT GAVE THE SENATE A SPECIFIC TASK. THE CONSTITUTION GIVES US A PARTICULAR ROLE. THIS BODY IS NOT INVITED TO ACT AS THE NATION’S OVERARCHING MORAL TRIBUNAL. WE’RE NOT FREE TO WORK BACKWARD FROM WHETHER THE ACCUSED PARTY MIGHT PERSONALLY DESERVE SOME KIND OF PUNISHMENT. JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY, OUR NATION’S FIRST GREAT CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR, AS HE EXPLAINED NEARLY 200 YEARS AGO, THE PROCESS OF IMPEACHMENT AND CONVICTION IS A NARROW TOOL, A NARROW TOOL, FOR A NARROW PURPOSE. STORY EXPLAINED THIS LIMITED TOOL EXISTS TO, QUOTE, SECURE THE STATE AGAINST GROSS OFFICIAL MISDEMEANORS, END QUOTE. THAT IS, TO PROTECT THE COUNTRY FROM GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. IF PRESIDENT TRUMP WERE STILL IN OFFICE, I WOULD HAVE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED WHETHER THE HOUSE MANAGERS PROVED THEIR SPECIFIC CHARGE. BY THE STRICT CRIMINAL STANDARD, THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH PROBABLY WAS NOT INCITEMENT. HOWEVER, HOWEVER, IN THE CONTEXT OF IMPEACHMENT, THE SENATE MIGHT HAVE DECIDED THIS WAS ACCEPTABLE SHORTHAND FOR THE RECKLESS ACTIONS THAT PRECEDED THE RIOT. BUT IN THIS CASE, THE QUESTION IS MOOT, BECAUSE FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP IS CONSTITUTIONALLY NOT ELIGIBLE
FOR CONVICTION. NOW, THIS IS A CLOSE QUESTION, NO DOUBT. DONALD TRUMP WAS THE PRESIDENT WHEN THE HOUSE VOTED, THOUGH NOT WHEN THE HOUSE CHOSE TO DELIVER THE PAPERS. BRILLIANT SCHOLARS ARGUE BOTH SIDES OF THIS JURISDICTIONAL QUESTION. THE TEXT IS LEGITIMATELY AMBIGUOUS. I RESPECT MY COLLEAGUES WHO HAVE REACHED EITHER CONCLUSION. BUT AFTER INTENSE REFLECTION, I BELIEVE THE BEST CONSTITUTIONAL READING SHOWS THAT ARTICLE 2, SECTION 4, EXHAUSTS THE SET OF PERSONS WHO CAN LEGITIMATELY BE IMPEACHED, TRIED, OR CONVICTED. IT’S THE PRESIDENT, IT’S THE VICE PRESIDENT, AND CIVIL OFFICERS. WE HAVE NO POWER TO CONVICT AND DISQUALIFY A FORMER OFFICEHOLDER WHO IS NOW A PRIVATE CITIZEN.
HERE IS ARTICLE 2, SECTION 4: QUOTE, THE PRESIDENT, THE VICE PRESIDENT, AND ALL CIVIL OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES, SHALL BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE ON IMPEACHMENT FOR AND CONVICTION OF TREASON, BRIBERY, OR OTHER HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, END QUOTE. NOW, EVERYONE BASICALLY AGREES THAT THE SECOND HALF OF THAT SENTENCE EXHAUSTS THE LEGITIMATE GROUNDS FOR CONVICTION. THE DEBATES AROUND THE CONSTITUTION’S FRAMING MAKE THAT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR. CONGRESS CANNOT CONVICT FOR REASONS BESIDES THOSE. IT THEREFORE FOLLOWS THAT THE LIST OF PERSONS IN THAT SAME SENTENCE IS ALSO EXHAUSTED. THERE’S NO REASON WHY ONE WOULD LIST — ONE LIST WOULD BE EXHAUSTIVE BUT THE OTHER WOULDNOT.
ARTICLE 2, SECTION 4, MUST LIMIT BOTH WHY IMPEACHMENT AND CONVICTION CAN OCCUR AND TO WHOM — AND TO WHOM. IF THIS PROVISION DOES NOT LIMIT IMPEACHMENT AND CONVICTION POWERS, THEN IT HAS NO LIMITS AT ALL. THE HOUSE HAS SOLE POWER OF IMPEACHMENT, AND THE SENATE HAS SOLE POWER TO TRY IMPEACHMENTS WOULD CREATE AN UNLIMITED CIRCULAR LOGIC, EMPOWERING CONGRESS TO BAN ANY CITIZEN FROM FEDERAL OFFICE. NOW, THAT’S AN INCREDIBLE CLAIM. BUT IT’S THE ARGUMENT OF THE HOUSE MANAGERS SEEM TO BE MAKING. ONE SAID IT WOULD HAVE ABSOLUTE, UNQUALIFIED, JURISDICTIONAL POWER, END QUOTE. WELL, THAT WAS VERY HONEST BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIMITING PRINCIPLE IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL TEXT THAT WOULD EMPOWER THE SENATE TO CONVICT FORMER OFFICERS THAT WOULD NOT ALSO LET THEM CONVICT AND
DISQUALIFY ANY PRIVATE CITIZEN. AN ABSURD END RESULT TO WHICH NO ONE SUBSCRIBES. ARTICLE 2, SECTION 4, MUST HAVE FORCE. IT TELLS US, THE PRESIDENT, THE VICE PRESIDENT, AND CIVIL OFFICERS MAY BE IMPEACHED AND CONVICTED. DONALD TRUMP IS NO LONGER THE PRESIDENT. LIKEWISE, THE PROVISION STATES THAT OFFICERS SUBJECT TO IMPEACHMENT AND CONVICTION SHALL BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE, IF QUICK. SHALL BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE, IF CONVICTED. AS JUSTICE STORY EXPLAINED, THE SENATE, UPON CONVICTION, IS BOUND IN ALL CASES TO ENTER A JUDGMENT OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE. REMOVAL IS MANDATORY UPON CONVICTION. CLEARLY, HE EXPLAINED, THAT MANDATORY SENTENCE CANNOT BE APPLIED TO SOMEONE WHO’S LEFT OFFICE. THE ENTIRE PROCESS REVOLVES AROUND REMOVAL. IF REMOVAL BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE, CONVICTION BECOMES INCENSABLE. — INSENSIBLE. IT SEEMS COUNTERINTUITIVE THAT AN OFFICEHOLDER CAN ELUDE SENATE CONVICTION BY RESIGNATION OR EXPIRATION OF TERM, AN ARGUMENT WE HEARD MADE BY THE MANAGERS. BUT THIS UNDERSCORES THAT IMPEACHMENT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THE FINAL FORUM FOR AMERICAN JUSTICE. NEVER MEANT TO BE THE FINAL FORUM FOR AMERICAN JUSTICE. IMPEACHMENT, CONVICTION, AND REMOVAL ARE A SPECIFIC INTRA-GOVERNMENTAL SAFETY VALUE — SAFETY VALVE.
INDEED, JUSTICE STORY SPECIFICALLY REMINDED THAT WHILE FORMER OFFICIALS WERE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR IMPEACHMENT OR CONVICTION, THEY WERE — AND THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT — STILL LIABLE TO BE TRIED AND PUNISHED IN THE ORDINARY TRIBUNALS OF JUSTICE. PUT ANOTHER WAY, IN THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY, 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 HE WAS IN OFFICE. DIDN’T GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING YET. YET. WE HAVE A CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY. WE HAVE CIVIL LITIGATION. AND FORMER RESERVATIONS ARE NOT IMMUNE FROM BEING ACCOUNTABLE BY EITHER ONE. I BELIEVE THE SENATE WAS NOT — WAS RIGHT NOT TO GRAB POWER THE CONSTITUTION DOESN’T GIVE US. AND THE SENATE WAS RIGHT NOT TO ENTERTAIN SOME LIGHTSPEED SHAM PROCESS TO TRY TO OUTRUN THE LOSS OF JURISDICTION. IT TOOK BOTH SIDES MORE THAN A WEEK JUST TO PRODUCE THEIR PRETRIAL BRIEFS. SPEAKER PELOSI’S OWN SCHEDULING DECISIONS CONCEDED WHAT PRESIDENT BIDEN PUBLICLY CONFIRMED — A SENATE VERDICT BEFORE INAUGURATION DAY WAS NEVER POSSIBLE. NOW, MR. PRESIDENT, THIS HAS BEEN A DISPIRITING TIME, BUT THE SENATE HAS DONE OUR DUTY. THE FRAMERS’ FIREWALL HELD UP AGAIN. ON JANUARY 6 WE RETURNED TO OUR POSTS AND CERTIFIED THE ELECTION. WE WERE UNCOWED. WE WERE NOT INTIMIDATED. WE FINISHED THE JOB. AND SINCE THEN, WE RESISTED THE CLAMOR TO DEFY OUR OWN CONSTITUTIONAL GUARDRAILS IN HOT PURSUIT OF A PARTICULAR OUTCOME. WE REFUSED TO CONTINUE A CYCLE OF RECKLESSNESS BY STRAINING OUR OWN CONSTITUTIONAL BOUNDARIES IN RESPONSE. THE SENATE’S DECISION TODAY DOES NOT CONDONE ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED ON OR BEFORE THAT TERRIBLE DAY. IT SIMPLY SHOWS THAT SENATORS DID WHAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT FAILED TO DO. WE PUT OUR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY FIRST.
