Former President Trump on Wednesday called on Republicans to boot Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his post as Senate minority leader, accusing the senator of being a “pawn for the Democrats.”
In a statement, Trump cited a Wednesday story from The Federalist about McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao’s alleged ties to China in calling for the senator’s ouster from his longtime leadership post.
“Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want,” Trump said in his statement. “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!”
Trump has feuded with McConnell, who he has dubbed “Old Crow,” since the Senate leader denounced the former president in Congress for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Over the weekend, the former president slammed McConnell for making remarks last week about “candidate quality,” in a reference to Republicans running for Senate, a number of which were hand-picked by Trump. McConnell has said the race for Senate control in November will be close.
Trump also took a dig at Chao, his former Transportation secretary who resigned from office one day after the Jan. 6 attack, calling her McConnell’s “crazy wife.” In Wednesday’s message he called her “Coco.”
Last year, Trump also called for Republicans to select a new Senate leader to boost the GOP’s chances of retaking Congress in 2022.
“I think we’re going to do very well,” Trump said at the time. “We need good leadership. Mitch McConnell has not done a great job, I think they should change Mitch McConnell.”
In Wednesday’s statement, Trump accused McConnell of giving the “Radical Left the Trillions and Trillions of Dollars that they constantly DEMAND” and faulted him for failing to stop passage of the landmark tax, climate and healthcare law known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
In fact, Democrats have had to find routes around staunch GOP opposition for their major spending programs, such as passed the IRA through the budget reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster, and President Biden using executive authority to forgive student debt this week.