Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued his most striking condemnation of President Donald Trump yet after the attack at the U.S. Capitol, saying the mob of protesters were “provoked by the president.”

“The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people and they tried to use fear and violence,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, casting a clear shot not only at Trump but fellow Republicans who backed the president’s efforts to overturn election results in several swing states.

McConnell’s statements are of major significance before the discussion on Trump’s impeachment in the Senate.