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Sen. McConnell terms Pittsburgh synagogue, Kentucky grocery store shootings as hate crimes

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and Kentucky grocery store shooting fit the definition of hate crimes, and he says the death penalty should apply in such cases.

The Kentucky Republican said Monday that political rhetoric in the country needs to be “ratcheted down.” He told reporters at the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort that these “horrible, criminal acts” underscore the need to “dial it back, and to get into a better, more respectful place.”

McConnell spoke briefly about the shootings in Pennsylvania and Kentucky while speaking to members of the conservative Federalist Society at the Kentucky statehouse. He told the gathering that if the shootings “aren’t the definitions of hate crimes, I don’t know what a hate crime is.”

McConnell told reporters later that he still supports the death penalty in certain instances, and he said the two shootings “are the kinds of circumstances I would apply it to.”