Trump calls McConnell an 'unsmiling political hack' in lengthy statement

But, after Trump spent months making baseless claims that election fraud cost him the November election against Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell said that overturning the vote because of objections from the losing side would see American democracy enter "a death spiral".

"I single-handedly saved at least 12 Senate seats", Mr Trump claimed, "and then came the Georgia disaster, where we should have won both US Senate seats, but McConnell matched the Democrat offer of $2,000 stimulus checks with $600".

The clash between the current and former GOP leaders comes as the Republican Party at large grapples with warring factions at odds over whether to continue in Trump's likeness or forge a path veering from the former President's legacy.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday, signaling a growing feud between the two most important voices in the Republican Party. Chao, who was born in Taiwan to a wealthy shipping family, served as the transportation secretary in the Trump cabinet, till she resigned after the January 6 mob attack.

A spokesperson for McConnell did not immediately return requests for comment.

McConnell was once an ally of Trump, but turned against the president in the wake of the Capitol riot, which he blamed Trump for inflaming.

"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day", McConnell said on Saturday, after Trump, the only president to be impeached twice, was acquitted on a 57-43 vote. However, he voted later that day to acquit the former USA president on the single impeachment charge of "incitement of insurrection".

In private, he has said he believed the impeachment proceedings would make it easier for Republicans to eventually purge Mr Trump from the party. And he expressed surprise and mild bemusement at the hatchet-burying mission made to Mr Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, by Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader. However, he defended Trump on the narrow grounds that impeachment should only apply to sitting presidents.

While telling associates he knew he would have to oppose Mr Trump in some primaries next year, he had hoped to unify his caucus by turning attention to Mr Biden.

"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again", Trump said in a statement released through his political action committee amid the fallout over the former president's second impeachment trial.

He added: "We know our America First agenda is a victor, not McConnell's Beltway First agenda or Biden's America Last".