Topline
Following the January 6 Capitol riot, then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he believed Donald Trump had “finally, totally discredited himself” and suggested Trump might be removed from office in favor of then Vice President Mike Pence, according to excerpts from the upcoming nonfiction book This Will Not Pass that were published Monday by the Washington Post.
Key Facts
An “exhilarated” McConnell raised the possibility of removing Trump from office using the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and a majority of Congress to declare the president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” immediately making the vice president acting president, the Washington Post quoted This Will Not Pass as saying.
The 480-page book, which was authored by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, claims to bring together hundreds of interviews, recordings and unseen documents to offer an unfettered look at how Republican leaders responded to the 2020 election, Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and the Capitol riot.
Sections of the book also portray other national Republican leaders as criticizing Trump privately while appearing loyal in public, the Washington Post reported.
A spokesperson for McConnell declined to comment on Martin and Burns’s book, the Washington Post reported.
This Will Not Pass is set for Publication May 3.
Key Background
Since its publication was announced, This Will Not Pass has made waves by threatening to expose alleged disparities between some Republican leaders’ private and public views toward Trump. According to Martin and Burns, legislators like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) privately swore to “drive [Trump]
from politics” called audio AudioCrucial Quote
“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell said of Trump’s conduct on the day of the riot, according to an excerpt of This Will Not Pass published by the Washington Post. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Further Reading
“Bombshell New Audio Destroys Kevin McCarthy’s Credibility And Could Damage His Career” (Forbes)
