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Republicans back away from confronting Trump and his loyalists after the Capitol insurrection, embracing them instead
By Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced little more than a week ago that the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol had been “provoked” by President Donald Trump. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Trump “bears responsibility” for failing to respond more quickly to the bloody incursion.
But that was then.
The nation’s two most powerful elected Republicans have signaled that they are ready to look past questions of responsibility for the violent effort to overturn the result of the presidential election, an attempt that left a Capitol Police officer and four rioters dead, as they maneuver to avoid a divisive battle within the Republican Party and try to position it to reclaim power in 2022.