Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed on Tuesday his support for Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who on Sunday decried former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was not fair, The Hill reports.
''I think Sen. Rounds told the truth about what happened in the 2020 election,'' McConnell said on CNN. ''And I agree with him.''
Appearing Sunday on ABC's ''This Week,'' Rounds said: ''While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state. We simply did not win the election as Republicans for the presidency.''
But shortly after Rounds' remarks, Trump released a statement announcing his withdrawal of support for Rounds.
Rounds is ''a weak and ineffective leader,'' Trump said in a statement. ''I hereby firmly pledge that he will never receive my Endorsement again!''
And shortly after that, Rounds released a statement in response to the former president, saying that he was ''disappointed but not surprised'' by Trump's comments.
''As a Republican Party,'' Rounds added, ''our focus should be on what lies ahead, not what's in the past. Elections are about growing support for your party, not further dividing it.''
Since Rounds' statement, other Republican senators have either shown support for the South Dakota senator or echoed his sentiments, saying that it's time for the party to move on.
On Monday, Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said Rounds spoke the ''truth knowing that our Republic depends upon it.''
And fellow South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune said: ''I don't think relitigating or rehashing the past is a winning strategy. If we want to be a majority in 2023, we've got to get out and articulate what we're going to do with respect to the future the American people are going to live and the things they're going to care about when it comes to economic issues, national security issues.''
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