Mitch McConnell slams Trump for ‘not wanting’ to close border and blames Tucker Carlson for ‘demonizing’ aid to Ukraine
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized two of his prominent critics on Tuesday after the Senate voted to approve a $95 billion foreign aid package.
McConnell specifically called out former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for opposing funding more foreign aid to Ukraine.
“The demonization of Ukraine started by Tucker Carlson — who, in my opinion, ended up where he should have been all along, interviewing Vladimir Putin,” McConnell told reporters at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, appearing to revel in his victory.
“He had a huge audience, which convinced a lot of Republicans.”
McConnell specifically called out former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for opposing funding more foreign aid to Ukraine
Mitch McConnell celebrated a Senate vote approving more aid for Ukraine and criticized Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump
As a Fox News host, Carlson repeatedly questioned why the United States should fund the war in Ukraine, given that President Joe Biden and members of Congress appropriated more than $75 billion in aid after the country was invaded by Russia.
Carlson continued to advocate against aid to Ukraine even after he was fired from Fox News in April 2023.
After founding his own media company, Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin in February, further angering Ukraine’s supporters.
The Senate voted 80-19 on Tuesday to advance another $61 billion for Ukraine, despite 17 Senate Republicans voting against it.
McConnell has also blasted former President Donald Trump for helping to defeat a bipartisan Senate bill to secure the border in February.
“We all thought the border was a disaster,” he said. “First there was an attempt to create laws that require you to associate with Democrats. Then our candidate for president didn’t seem to want anything from us at all.’
In February, Trump helped kill a foreign aid bill in the Senate that included an additional $20 billion to secure the border and some concessions to Democrats on the immigration issue that angered Trump.
Mitch McConnell announced that he would resign as leader of the Senate Republicans at the end of 2024
Donald Trump helped scuttle a border bill in the Senate that McConnell supported in February.
Trump described the bills as “a great gift for Democrats and a death wish for the Republican Party.”
‘Don’t be stupid!!! We need a separate border and immigration law,” he added. “It should not be connected in any way to foreign aid!”
After Trump rejected the Senate bill in February, McConnell announced his intention to relinquish the position of Republican leader at the end of 2024.
Despite endorsing Trump for president in March, McConnell vowed to fight what he described as a growing “isolationist” trend in the Republican Party.
“I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back the isolationist movement in my own party,” McConnell said in an interview with a local radio station in Kentucky.