Washington | Senator Mitch McConnell flatly blamed Donald Trump on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) for the violent rampage at the Capitol on January 6, saying that the mob that stormed the building had been "fed lies" and "provoked by the President" to carry out its assault.

Senator McConnell's remarks, on the eve of Joe Biden's inauguration, were the clearest signal yet from the most powerful Republican left in Washington that after four years of excusing and enabling Mr Trump, he has come to regard the departing president as a force who could drag down the party if he is not firmly excised by its leaders.