In the aftermath of the January 6 attack—in which hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and interrupted Congress’ certification of the 2020 election, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was tasked with reconvening the chamber to continue its formalities.
As detailed in journalist Michael Tackett’s coming biography of McConnell, the Republican leader had known ahead of January 6, 2021, that a handful of conservative lawmakers planned to object to the certification of two critical states—Pennsylvania and Arizona—over baseless claims of voter fraud.
Two Republican senators helped lead the efforts when Congress first convened on January 6: Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley. But, as Tackett writes in his book, The Price of Power, McConnell was hopeful after returning to the Capitol that the riots would “deter senators” from “going through with their fruitless objections” to President Joe Biden’s victory.
“His wish was half granted,” Tackett wrote in a copy of the biography obtained by Newsweek. Cruz backed off his plans to object to the electoral votes after the mob ceased. McConnell reportedly told Tackett that Cruz even went out of his way to ask the Republican leader for advice, which came as a bit of a surprise.
“Believe it or not, Ted Cruz, who sort of made a career out of being wherever I’m not on issues, called me up last night to get my advice on how to deal with it all,” McConnell told Tackett in a later interview. “That was almost an out of body experience.”
Congress went on to certify the election results, formalizing Biden’s victory over Trump.
The details of McConnell and Cruz’s conversation come just days before the 2024 election. The Texas senator’s reelection bid is being challenged by Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, a former NFL player who represents the state’s 32nd Congressional District. The Senate seat is critical in determining which party has control of the upper chamber of Congress next year.
Polls show that the gap between Cruz and Allred has closed as November 5 inches closer. Democrats have also played on Cruz’s loyalty to Trump and his actions on January 6 in their attacks against the Republican lawmaker. Cruz has been endorsed by the former president and has failed to say if he believes Trump lost the 2020 election.
Newsweek reached out to Cruz’s campaign via email Thursday for additional comment. An email was also sent to McConnell’s office.
Other parts of Tackett’s book details McConnell and Cruz’s rocky relationship. During a Senate hearing in July 2015, the Texas lawmaker rebuked McConnell as a “liar” on the chamber floor, a moment that Tackett writes was “a serious breach of decorum within the party, but also the kind of attention-grabbing stunt Cruz hoped it would be.”
In the days leading up to January 6, McConnell was also made aware of Cruz and Hawley’s plans to block certification of the election results, something that McConnell considered “publicity stunts by two men with presidential ambitions than a serious impediment to the process,” Tackett wrote.
The forthcoming biography of McConnell also reveals the Republican leader’s thoughts on Trump. While McConnell and Trump have clashed in the past—including over McConnell’s refusal to block certification of the 2020 election—the longtime Kentucky lawmaker has endorsed the former president ahead of November.
But in previous years, particularly after the 2020 election, McConnell referred to Trump as “erratic,” and told Tackett that he believes Trump’s “MAGA movement is completely wrong.”
“I think Trump was the biggest factor in changing the Republican Party from what Ronald Reagan viewed and he wouldn’t recognize today,” McConnell said, according to Tackett’s book.
When reached by CNN about his comments on the former president, McConnell said, “Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now.”
Tackett’s biography will be released to the public on October 29.
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