Trump says GOP Sen. Mike Rounds 'went woke' and 'will never receive my Endorsement again' after he called the 2020 presidential election 'as fair as we've seen'

• Trump said a GOP senator "went woke" and vowed never to endorse him again.
• Sen. Mike Rounds said on Sunday that the 2020 election result was "as fair as we've seen."
• Rounds also said the "courts are the appropriate place" to determine whether Trump can run again.

Former President Donald Trump is vowing to never again endorse Sen. Mike Rounds after the South Dakota Republican called the 2020 presidential election "fair" in a Sunday appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"'Senator' Mike Rounds," Trump said in a statement, "just went woke on the Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020." He criticized Rounds for saying the election was "ok—just fine" and baselessly claimed that there's "evidence to the contrary" in Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

"Is he crazy or just stupid?" Trump said. "The only reason he did this is because he got my endorsement and easily won his state in 2020, so now he thinks he has time, and those are the only ones, the weak, who will break away. Even though his election will not be coming up for 5 years, I will never endorse this jerk again."

Trump went on to air grievances about "Democrat-run cities" and geopolitical conflicts around the world before concluding: "He is a weak and ineffective leader, and I hereby firmly pledge that he will never receive my Endorsement again."

—Liz Harrington 🍊 (@realLizUSA) January 10, 2022

Rounds  — who voted to certify the 2020 election results — affirmed the validity of the 2020 vote, telling ABC: "The election was fair, as fair as we've seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency."

The second-term lawmaker also took aim at Trump's ongoing focus on the 2020 presidential election, suggesting that it could be detrimental to Republicans' prospects in future elections.

"Moving forward, we have to refocus once again on what it's going to take to win the presidency," Rounds said. "And if we simply look back and tell our people 'don't vote,' because there's cheating going on, then we're gonna put ourselves in a huge disadvantage."

—ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 10, 2022

Rounds also signaled that he believed the legal system may not be fully through with Trump just yet.

ABC's George Stephanopoulous asked him about a hypothetical congressional law barring Trump from running again, which would be predicated on the idea that Trump violated his oath of office by supporting the Capitol riot.

"The courts are the appropriate place where those questions should be answered," Rounds replied.

—This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 9, 2022

Rounds has also previously called the events of January 6, 2021, when thousands of Trump supporters laid siege to the US Capitol, "an insurrection."

"In my opinion, what we had was an insurrection," Rounds said. "We had violence. We had people killed. We had a mob that ignored direct commands. They attacked law enforcement officers. They damaged federal property. They clearly intended to stop us from performing our duties in the recognition of the electoral vote count."