McConnell criticizes Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution

Deepa Shivaram

December 06, 2022 / 3:45 pm

caption: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back against former President Trump's suggestion that the Constitution should be terminated.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back on Tuesday against former president and current 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution.

"Anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me would have a very hard time being sworn in as president of the United States," McConnell said at the top of his remarks to reporters on Capitol Hill.

McConnell did not answer if he would ultimately support Trump if he were the 2024 GOP nominee, and instead reiterated his same remarks.

Over the weekend, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, repeating his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He said a "massive fraud of this type and magnitude" should allow "the termination of of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

On Monday, Trump posted again saying the media was trying to convince people that he called for the termination of the Constitution.

Few other Republicans have criticized the former president's remarks, though many, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, have remained silent.

White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre responded to Trump's remarks on Monday and pointed to the results of the midterm elections.

"American people have been very clear: They oppose the way that Republicans have talked about this. They oppose the violent rhetoric that extreme MAGA officials have engaged in. And so, we should listen to what the American people had to say just a couple of weeks ago," she said. [Copyright 2022 NPR]