Mitch McConnell says Senate won’t be ‘intimidated’ by ‘failed insurrection’

Mitch McConnell. Image via AP.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell lost the Senate majority Wednesday, and before protesters besieged the Capitol, he was unambiguous in saying he saw little merit in challenges to the Presidential election.

After a few hours of insurrectionists marauding through the Capitol, having disrupted initial considerations of the question of the Arizona challenge in the House and the Senate, the legislative bodies resumed discussion shortly after 8:00 PM.

And in the Senate, McConnell led off with remarks. Baited by the President for days, the Kentucky Republican had his say about what he called a “failed insurrection.”

“This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic,” McConnell said. 

Yet on a day when Donald Trump‘s supporters upended the fundamental business of Congress, McConnell vowed that business would go on.

“We’ve fulfilled this solemn duty every four years for more than two centuries,” McConnell said of the “clockwork of democracy.”

“The United States Congress has faced down much greater threats than we’ve faced today. We’ve never been deterred before and will not be deterred today. They tried to disrupt democracy. They failed. The free choice of the American people is precisely what shapes our democracy,” the Senator said.

“The United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness … We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for the nation. And we’re going to do it tonight.”

“We will certify the winner of the 2020 Presidential election,” McConnell vowed. “We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation, and we are going to do it — tonight.”

The President has baited McConnell as recently as the rally that led up to mobs storming the Capitol.

“I helped Mitch get elected,” Trump said during what was well over an hour of remarks.

The President isn’t likely to respond to McConnell before Thursday. He is on Twitter suspension, and the White House called a lid already on Wednesday evening on White House appearances.