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| AP |
McConnell, the most recent Republican leader to align behind Trump, declared his support in a message shortly after the Super Tuesday victories left the former president on the verge of securing the nomination.
The two men had not spoken since 2020, when McConnell declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of that year's presidential election. But more recently, their respective collaborators had initiated conversations for the endorsement.
"It is clear that former President Trump has won the required support from Republican voters to be our candidate for President of the United States," McConnell said in a statement. "It should surprise no one that, as a candidate, he will have my support."
McConnell's gesture, who has said he considers Trump morally responsible for the siege of the 2021 Congressional confrontation, places a stamp of institutional legitimacy on the former president's attempt, accused of several crimes, to return to the White House.
A week ago, McConnell announced that he will leave his position as leader of his caucus, which he has held longer than any other senator in history, but will continue in his seat as Republicans try to regain the majority in the Senate, while Trump disputes the presidency.
Trump now has the backing of both the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and the Republican senators who are vying for McConnell's position as block leader.
McConnell, who represents Kentucky, said that he and Trump "collaborated to achieve great things for the American people."
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The senator had said at the beginning of the election cycle that he would support the Republican presidential candidate, whoever it was, but his endorsement of Trump is a notable fact for two men who have put their political interests before their mutual disgust.
Trump often referred to McConnell in public as an "old crow" and hurled racist insults at his wife, Elaine Chao, who had been Secretary of Transportation during his presidency and had resigned after the assault on the Capitol, which McConnell described as an insurrection.