McConnell Urges Dems to ‘Regain Composure and Come Back to Reality’ after Mueller Report
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged his Democratic colleagues to accept Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings rather than continuing to obstruct President Trump’s agenda in the name of greater transparency.
Reading from prepared remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell said the question of whether anyone in the Trump administration or campaign colluded with Russians to sway the election was “closed,” and argued that Democrats’ attempts to secure Mueller’s full, unredacted report, as well as the evidence that underlies it, stemmed from an inability to accept the reality of Trump’s election.
“Given the Left’s total fixation on delegitimizing the president Americans chose and shooting any messenger who tells them inconvenient truths, I’m afraid the Russians hardly need to lift a finger,” McConnell said. “Well madame president, the last stage of grief is acceptance. For the country’s sake, I hope my Democratic friends can get there sometime soon.”
“For two years the Democratic party held out hope that the legal system would undo their loss in 2016. They refuse to make peace with the American people’s choice. But the American people elected this president. They did,” he continued. “The American people sent us here to deliver results for their families. That’s what Republicans have been doing for the past two years and counting, that’s what Republicans will continue to do, and whenever our Democratic friends can regain their composure and come back to reality, we look forward to their help.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell says Democrats "refuse to make peace" with the results of 2016 and calls on them to move on from the Mueller probe: "The last stage of grief is acceptance. For the country's sake, I hope my Democratic friends get there sometime soon" https://t.co/ZmUp1hr4Ef pic.twitter.com/kuPM49KklB
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 7, 2019
Taking to the Senate floor after McConnell, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused his Republican colleagues of trying to “whitewash” Mueller’s findings by resisting subpoena-backed requests for the unredacted report and Mueller’s testimony.
“So our leader says let’s move on. It’s sort of like Richard Nixon saying let’s move on at the height of the investigation of his wrongdoing,” Schumer said.
The legislative process has ground to a halt in recent weeks as Republican leadership continues to deny Democrats access to documents and witness interviews related to Trump’s business dealings and Mueller’s investigations into Russian interference.
Shortly after McConnell’s speech, White House attorneys announced that they instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn not to accede to Democrats’ demands to turn over his personal notes as part of their investigation into Trump’s alleged attempts to obstruct Mueller’s probe.
