evidence: McConnell’s vote on impeachment, which infuriated some of his closest backers, made clear his calculus that he couldn’t challenge Trump, even at the former president’s most vulnerable moment, a sign of the MAGA hold on the party electorate and many in McConnell’s own caucus. He opposed a bipartisan Jan. 6 investigation, blocked three bills Democrats put forward to counter restrictive GOP voting laws driven by Trump’s false fraud claims and endorsed a Trump-backed 2022 Senate candidate who echoed the false claim that the election was stolen. [...] The power McConnell now holds dovetails with helping Trump. And few efforts are more important to the former president and the GOP than blocking Democratic measures to expand voting rights and protections. [...] McConnell, who has rejected Trump’s assertion that the election was fraudulent, nonetheless went on to echo a key Trump claim, saying, "There is considerable evidence that voter fraud still exists. [Democrats] act like it is nonexistent." In fact, voter fraud is rare, and dozens of court challenges and several extensive state ballot reviews have produced no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Indeed, McConnell acknowledged later in the interview that it is "fairly rare" due to ballot security measures.