WASHINGTON — There are plenty of Republican lawmakers jumping in to call the indictment of former President Donald Trump politically motivated, but the most powerful Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has remained silent.

The 81-year-old McConnell was hospitalized due to a fall last month. He has since been released from the hospital, but has not yet returned to Capitol Hill. Although McConnell, who is the longest-serving Senate leader in the chamber’s history, has not been there in person, experts said his voice still holds weight among the party.

“The fact that he’s not in the building doesn’t mean that he’s not using all avenues of communication to keep his party in line,” said Casey Burgat with the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

On Tuesday, the day of Trump’s arraignment, McConnell released a statement, but it was focused on welcoming Finland into NATO.

The relationship between McConnell and Trump has always been a balancing act for McConnell.

“I’m sure there are people on both sides who are unhappy with him,” said Matthew Green with the politics department at Catholic University. “They think he was either too supportive of Trump or not supportive enough of Trump, but he found a way to manage these factions within his party so that he was able to survive as a leader.”

McConnell has often been the target of Trump’s verbal attacks. In one of those attacks, Trump posted on Truth Social to say that McConnell had a “death wish” after McConnell chose to support a stop-gap funding measure that included disaster relief funds and money for Ukraine. In that same post, Trump used racist terms to describe McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation when Trump was president.

McConnell’s silence on Trump’s indictment comes in sharp contrast to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who spoke out before the charges were unsealed. In a tweet, McCarthy accused the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of weaponizing the justice system for political gain. 

President Joe Biden has avoided speaking about the charges, but the Democrats who are speaking out, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have said that Trump is subject to the same laws as every American. “There’s no place in the justice system for any outside influence or intimidation in the legal process,” Schumer said.

Other Kentuckians are reacting to Trump’s indictment in their own ways. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., chose the day after Trump’s arraignment to put out a statement officially endorsing Republican Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for president, even though DeSantis has not officially announced he’s running. 

“America needs a leader who is decisive, respects the Constitution, understands policy, puts family first, and leads by inspiring. That’s why I’m endorsing Ron DeSantis for President,” Massie said in the statement. A Pro-DeSantis super PAC released the statement including Massie’s endorsement.