Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to acquit Donald Trump, has just delivered a long and withering speech condemning the former president's conduct as a "disgraceful dereliction of duty".
"January 6 was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government," Mr McConnell said on the floor of the Senate.
"They did this because they'd been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth. Because he was angry he'd lost an election. Former president Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.
"The House accused the former president of 'incitement'. That is a specific term from the criminal law. Let me just put that aside for a moment, and reiterate something I said weeks ago.
"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.
"Having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on the planet.
"It was (a) manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe, the increasingly wild myths about a landslide election, some secret coup by our now President.
"I defended the president's right to bring any complaints to our legal system. The system spoke. The electoral college spoke. The election was settled, it was over. But that just really opened a new chapter of even wilder, wilder, and more unfounded claims.
"The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country, and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.
"Many politicians sometimes make heated comments that unhinged listeners might take literally. But that's different than what we saw.
"The unconscionable behaviour did not end when the violence actually began. Whatever our ex-president claim he thought might happen that day, whatever reaction he says he meant to produce, by that afternoon, we know he was watching the same live TV as the rest of us.
"A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him. It was obvious that only President Trump could end this.
"Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called. The president did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He did not take steps so federal law could be executed and order restored. No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched TV happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his schemes to overturn the election.
"Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger, even as the mob was beating cops and breaching perimeters, the president sent a further tweet attacking his own vice president.
"Later, when the president finally started half-heartedly calling for peace, he didn't call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later. And even then, with police bleeding, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
"In recent weeks, our ex-president's associated have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a sort of human shield against criticism. Anyone who decries his awful behaviour is accused of insulting millions of voters. That's an absurd deflection.
"I've made my view of this episode very plain. But our system of government gave the Senate a specific task. The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation's overarching moral tribunal. We're not free to work backwards."
All that said, he moved on to justifying his vote to acquit, saying the Senate lacked jurisdiction to punish Mr Trump.
