Free Republic

Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday suggested President Trump’s refusal to blame Russia as the sole aggressor who provoked the war in Ukraine “reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage.” McConnell declared in a statement marking the three-year anniversary of the war that the “human catastrophe rests solely on Vladimir Putin” and that if Ukrainian forces laid down their arms, “Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv.” “Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly,” McConnell said. He also criticized what he called the Biden administration’s “shameful hesitation and half-measures” in...

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans, warning that starting trade wars with U.S. economic partners could force higher costs on American families and businesses. Trump’s “aggressive proposals leave big, lingering concerns for American industry and workers,” the senator from Kentucky wrote in an op-ed Wednesday in Louisville’s Courier-Journal. The op-ed is a rare example of a senior Republican in Congress who is willing to publicly criticize the president’s economic strategy. Trump, who has called tariff his “favorite word,” recently slapped broad import duties on Canada, Mexico and China, plus additional tariffs on...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted on Wednesday with Democrat colleagues against confirming Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence. McConnell’s vote underscores his repeated opposition to President Donald Trump and his America First policies. He previously voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation in January. McConnell was the only Republican to vote “no” on Trump’s nomination. Every Democrat voted “no.” Despite Democrat and McConnell’s opposition, the Senate confirmed Gabbard’s nomination by a vote of 52-48.

@zhenryaz Mitch McConnell just voted NO on President Trump’s secretary of defense nominee This led to VP Vance having to rush down to cast a tie-breaking vote, only the 2nd such vote in U.S. history As Republican Senators gather around to congratulate Vance, notice McConnell walk over and SHAKE HANDS with the Democrats If you thought RFK Jr and Tulsi was going to be easy—think again. The GOP Establishment isn’t going down without a fight. Get ready.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said that President-elect Donald Trump’s victory puts Americans in “a very, very dangerous world,” stressing that he plans to spend his final two years in the Senate pushing back against the growing Trump-fueled isolationism within the GOP. The 82-year-old Kentucky Republican, who last month stepped down from his role as the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, has a complicated record with the incoming president. While McConnell has worked to significantly move the country to the right — much of it under the first Trump administration — he is no fan of Trump and his...

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Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri announced his support for Sen. John Cornyn of Texas on Friday in the race to replace Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. At this point, this is the first public endorsement for Cornyn. Cornyn is running to succeed McConnell alongside Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and John Thune of South Dakota. "I'm backing John Cornyn for majority leader," Hawley said in a statement. "In the last two years, nobody has done more to win back the majority than he has."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Friday that the foreign policy vision that former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Trump’s running mate, espouse is “nonsense.” McConnell has long tried to eliminate the “isolationist” wing’s increasing influence over the Republican Party. Although he did not directly reference Trump or Vance, McConnell called the “America First” foreign policy doctrine “nonsense.” “I mean, even the slogans are what they were in the 30s — ‘America First,'” McConnell added. Despite McConnell’s strong support for Ukraine’s protracted war, he admitted in an interview in July that he is not sure...

With the Republican National Convention underway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as of Monday, the party has officially chosen former President Donald Trump as their nominee for November’s presidential election. While Trump’s address to the convention after tragedy struck on Saturday when an assassin’s bullet nearly took his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, will undoubtedly be one of patriotism and unity, there are still career Republicans in Congress present at the convention who are incredibly unpopular. As each state was officially announcing its delegates for Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky took to the microphone to cast 46 votes for Trump....

Liz Cheney @Liz_Cheney Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our Capitol and then “watched television happily” as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the Vice President. He knows Trump refused for hours to tell his mob to leave and “even then with police officers bleeding…he kept repeating his election lies and praising the criminals.” He knows Trump committed a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and is a danger to our Republic. Trump and his collaborators will be defeated, and history will remember the shame of people like @LeaderMcConnell who enabled them.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell distanced himself from other Republican lawmakers who have called for the National Guard to be sent in to break up the antisemitic riots and demonstrations that have taken over multiple university campuses throughout the US over the last week and a half. “What needs to happen, at least at the beginning, is these university presidents need to get control of the situation, allow free speech, and push back against antisemitism,” McConnell told Margaret Brennan on the CBS 'Face the Nation' program. “I thought that was largely gone in this country, but we’ve seen a number...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 82, intends to remain in the U.S. Senate to oppose conservatives who support a truce between Russia and Ukraine, he said Monday. McConnell announced in February he would step down as Senate minority leader at the end of the cycle following health issues and incidents of freezing up during press conferences. He is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. In an interview on WHAS, Terry Meiner asked McConnell what his “mindset” is “when your feet hit the floor in the morning?" "I’m not leaving the Senate,” McConnell said. “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.McConnell, who turned 82 last week, was set to announce his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, a place where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on...

Former Republican strategist Tara Setmayer was stunned by new reporting that former President Donald Trump's allies are pushing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for an endorsement of the former president, and that Trump expects McConnell will cave soon. This is in spite of the fact that the two of them have had an icy relationship since the Jan. 6 attack, with McConnell publicly condemning Trump's actions, and the former president repeatedly attacking McConnell and suggesting he would be forced out under Trump's second presidency. "I have to go back to the Mitch McConnell thing for a second," Setmayer told...

In an unusual session held on Super Bowl Sunday, the US Senate voted to move forward a substantial $95 billion aid package that will support Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, with no southern border security provisions. The package includes $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel. The vote garnered support from RINOs, with a final tally of 67-27.According to The Hill, Schumer offered Republicans the chance to vote on amendments in exchange for expediting the legislative process.“By a vote of 67-27, The Senate invoked cloture on Murray substitute amendment 1388 to H.R.815, legislative vehicle for supplemental appropriations,” the Senate...

The bipartisan border deal that is dividing congressional Republicans is already leading to angry calls to shake up the Senate leadership and furious claims by Donald Trump that it represents a 'death wish' for the party in 2024. The fury came in the hours since negotiators put out details on their new bipartisan deal to provide new authority for the administration to 'close' the border when crossings spike, while sending billions to support allies Ukraine and Israel. Among those to heap the most scorn on the agreement was Utah Sen. Mike Lee – who even appeared to demand a change...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Wednesday slammed the climate agenda of President Joe Biden's administration as "bad for America" after it delayed approval for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. His speech on the Senate floor came after the administration directed the Department of Energy to withhold approval of the proposed Calcasieu Pass 2, which would be the largest natural gas export terminal in America, in order to evaluate its climate, economic, and national security impacts. The review, which could also determine the fate of 16 other proposed projects of the same nature, may extend past the...

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled. According to multiple sources familiar with the Tuesday lunch meeting, McConnell warned GOP senators that they could face “incoming” from the “center-right” if they signed onto Hawley’s bill. He also read off a list of senators who won their races amid heavy financial support from the...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday called for lawmakers to approve an aid package for Ukraine, even as newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) prepares to put a bill containing only money for Israel on the floor. “This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and of Israel,” McConnell said while introducing Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., at an event at the University of Louisville. “Right now, the Senate has a chance to...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refuses to step down as Senate minority leader after recently suffering a concussion and two subsequent incidences where he appeared to freeze. “I have no announcements to make on that subject,” McConnell said during a press conference on Wednesday.