Mitch McConnell (left), Donald Trump.Photo: Oliver Contreras/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Donald Trumpis turning up the heat in his latest feud with the top Republican in the U.S. Senate — and his wife.
“Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want,” Trumpsaid in a statement Wednesday. “He is afraid of them, and will not do what has to be done. A new Republican Leader in the Senate should be picked immediately!”
The call to replace theRepublicans' longest-serving leader in historycomes not long after the former presidentcriticized McConnellfor what he believes is his lack of support for the GOP’s 2022 midterm candidates.
“Why do Republican Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard-working Republican candidates for the United States Senate?” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. He also called McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served in the Trump administration as secretary of transportation, “crazy” in the post.
In his latest attack, Trump referred to astory that appeared Wednesday in the conservative publicationThe Federalistabout Chao’s alleged ties to China. The article cites a report from the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General on an ethics investigation into the former Trump administration official.
“The Democrats have Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Elaine ‘Coco’ Chao, over a barrel,” the former president wrote. “He and she will never be prosecuted, as per the last paragraphs of this story, as long as he continues to give the Radical Left the Trillions and Trillions of Dollars that they constantly DEMAND.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump together in 2017.Drew Angerer/Getty
Trump is blaming McConnell for failing to prevent passage of theInflation Reduction Act— Democrats' wide-ranging economic package that includes climate, health care and tax legislation — as well as PresidentJoe Biden’sstudent loan debt relief planwhich provides up to either$10,000 or $20,000 in loan forgivenessfor people making less than $125,000 per year.
“He was afraid to use the ‘Debt Ceiling Card’ in order to stop the most expensive waste of money in our Country’s history, to be spent on the Green New Deal, which will only cause one thing, a Depression,” Trump wrote. “These expenditures are something our Country can never recover from.”
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Trump’s issues with McConnell are not new. The former president previously called for a new Republican to lead in the Senatemore than a year ago, predicting Republicans could lose in the 2022 midterms if they stick with McConnell, whom Trump hasdubbedan “Old Crow.”
source: people.com
