President Donald Trump delivered a scathing rebuke of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell in the Oval Office after the long-time Republican leader went against a Trump-picked Cabinet nominee on Thursday.
The former top Senate Republican was the lone GOP vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. A polio survivor, McConnell had previously spoken out against the anti-vax nominee.
On Thursday, the president condemned McConnell, saying the senator “let the Republican Party go to hell.”
“I feel sorry for Mitch,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “He’s not equipped mentally. He wasn’t equipped 10 years ago, mentally, in my opinion.”
Trump said that McConnell would have been the death of the GOP if Trump had not rejuvenated the party’s support.
“If I didn’t come along, the Republican party wouldn’t even exist right now,” Trump said, before saying “anybody” could do the senator’s job. “He raised money… He engendered a certain amount of – I don’t even call it loyalty – he was able to get votes.”
McConnell was the driving force behind Trump’s first administration’s appointments to the federal judiciary and Supreme Court and has been an ardent defender of the president. He endorsed Trump in 2024, though the former majority leader called Trump “a despicable human being” after the 2020 election.
Trump and McConnell sparred over the president’s conduct on Jan. 6, though McConnell ultimately shielded Trump from a Senate conviction on a historic second impeachment effort. Kennedy is the third Trump nominee McConnell has voted against, following Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth.
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