Former President Donald Trump launched a scathing personal attack on fellow Republican Mitch McConnell.
"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," said Trump, "and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again."
Mr. McConnell, who has been leading the Senate for years, voted to acquitted Mr. Trump in his trial last week.
But then, because of his election fraud, he attacked him as "morally responsible" for the U.S. Capitol riot.
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In a speech on the floor of the Senate, he suggested that Mr. Trump should face criminal and civil litigation because he was still "still liable for everything he did while in office"
What did Trump say to McConnell?
Mr. Trump responded on Tuesday with his longest statement since he left office a month ago.
"The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm," reads the press release.
Mr. McConnell's "lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality" had cost Republicans control of the Senate after the November elections, he said.
The former president said that the Republican leader had "begged" for his endorsement in his own Senate race, without which Mr. Trump claimed Mr. McConnell would have lost.
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Mr. Trump set his sights on Mr. McConnell's stated intention to stand in the way of future Trump-backed candidates
The ex-president said he'd back Republican primary challengers who "espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First"
Mr. McConnell "will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country," said Mr. Trump.
"We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell's Beltway First agenda or Biden's America Last."
'The most worrying line for Republicans'
Donald Trump's Twitter ban may mean that he has lost his favourite way of lobbing attacks at his opponents, but his latest press release about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shows he hasn't lost his bite.There's a lot of invective in the eight-paragraph diatribe from the former president, but the line that will give the Republicans the most heartburn is toward the end, when he says he will back primary challenges against members of his own party "where necessary and appropriate".
It's telling that as Mr. Trump prepares to re-enter the fray after his impeachment trial, he does so with an attack on his own party, not the Democrats.
Trump may eventually take aim at Joe Biden and the left, but the political warfare Trump appears most interested in at the moment is of the internecine variety.
When was the relationship between McConnell and Trump sour?
The two Republicans had a cordial working relationship throughout Mr. Trump's presidency.
That changed, however, following the loss of President Trump's election.
Mr. McConnell said that he had not spoken to Mr. Trump since mid-December.
The rift between them was exacerbated by the Capitol riot on 6 January, which killed five people, including the Capitol Police Officer.
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Mr. Trump, who was charged by the House of Representatives in January for inciting an insurrection, was released by the Senate on Saturday.
Only seven Republicans joined the Democrats in the vote to convict Trump. Mr. McConnell and 42 other Republicans voted in favor.
Two-thirds of the vote was needed to convict the former president.
What is the verdict for Trump, Biden, and America?
In spite of a vote of acquirement, Mr. McConnell exclaimed the former President on the floor of the Senate after the vote.
"There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," said McConnell.
"A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name," he said. "These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him."
The relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell is not the only one that has been soured over the past month.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump's adviser said that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had stopped doing legal work for the former president.
Mr. Giuliani is "not currently representing President Trump in any legal matters," said Jason Miller on CNN.
Mr. Giuliani is "not currently representing President Trump in any legal matters," said Jason Miller on CNN.
Mr. Trump reportedly tried to stop paying Mr. Giuliani's legal fees for irritation about being charged a second time, the US media reported in January.
But Mr. Miller made it clear on Twitter after the interview that Mr. Giuliani remains "an ally and a friend"
He explained that they simply do not work together because "there are no pending cases where Mayor Giuliani is representing the President"
Additional Source - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56092781
