Mitch McConnell endorses Trump for president as Haley suspends campaign

Senate leader Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday that he is endorsing former President Donald Trump for president, The Associated Press is reporting.

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“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement to The Washington Post.

“It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support. During his presidency, we worked together to accomplish great things for the American people including tax reform that supercharged our economy and a generational change of our federal judiciary — most importantly, the Supreme Court.

“I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people.”

McConnell, the highest-ranking Republican in Congress, once called Trump “morally responsible” for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack amid frosty relations with the former president after McConnell declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

However, McConnell declined to vote to convict Trump of the Jan. 6 impeachment charges in the Senate trial, saying it was for the courts to decide since the defeated president by then was out of office.

According to the AP, McConnell’s political team and Trump’s campaign have been in talks over not only a possible endorsement of the former president but a strategy to unite Republicans up and down the party’s ticket ahead of the November election, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Word of McConnell’s announcement came minutes after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced she was suspending her campaign for the Republican nomination.

McConnell announced last month that he will step down from his leadership role in November, but serve out his Senate term that expires on Jan. 3, 2027.

The Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed Trump at 10:10 a.m. on Wednesday, moments after Haley’s announcement, The New York Times reported, calling him “the Most Pro-Israel President in U.S. History.”

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Through the years Sen. Mitch McConnell speaks at microphone during a gathering of Republican Party women candidates, Washington DC, June 1992. (Photo by Laura Patterson/CQ Roll Call Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images) (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

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