McConnell 'wants the dirty truth told' about Jan. 6 because 'he wants Trump out of the GOP': Morning Joe

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) came out in opposition to leniency for U.S. Capitol rioters, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said that showed he wanted Donald Trump purged from the Republican Party.

The Kentucky Republican said he would not shorten the sentences for any of the insurrectionists who pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack, after Trump pledged to pardon some or all of them if re-elected, and the "Morning Joe" host said McConnell's position on the riot has been consistent.

"It's one thing that time and again,Mitch has been unambiguous about," Scarborough said. "That is that people that committed crimes on Jan. 6 should be punished, that Jan. 6 was an atrocity, and whatever Donald Trump is saying about Jan. 6 is not true. Again, he wants to empower the Jan. 6 commission -- which, of course, he was against, bipartisan commission, which was a mistake. [Sen. Joe] Manchin thinks it was a mistake, a lot of people do, but he's certainly gotten behind this one."

"He wants the dirty truth told about Donald Trump because I think he wants Trump out of the party as much as, well, a lot of people," Scarborough added. "As much as [Rep.] Liz Cheney or some others."