I just listened to the entire speech of McConnell. He is really good at his job and a master manipulator. I think that the spin he is trying to go with is that the House didn't do a fair impeachment in the first place, and rushed it, which is a fair point. Everything was done in 12 weeks, compare it to Nixon's 14 months (before he resigned) or Clinton's impeachment. Additionally, they should have gone to the courts to force the subpoenas, instead of doing the second article in the 'abuse of power' for Trump not allowing some key witnesses (which actually can be argued is Trump using constitutional power). Essentially, the house did not do a fair trial, which allows Republicans to not do a fair trial.
I guess if they can go with this, then this will allows vulnerable Republican senators to do what McConnell says without getting repercussions in the elections.