Former President Donald Trump issued a statement calling for Senator Mitch McConnell to be booted from his role as the Senate minority leader on Wednesday evening.
Trump had sharp words for the senator, who he referred to as a “pawn for the Democrats.”
“The Democrats have Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Elaine ‘Coco’ Chao, over a barrel,” Trump’s statement began. “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.”
Trump was referencing an article from The Federalist about how McConnell and his wife “have maintained a glaring conflict of interest, conducting extensive government business despite the Chao family’s deep ties to China through a maritime shipping company.”
The article defended Trump for blasting McConnell’s ties to China over the weekend.
“For years, the McConnell and Chao families have maintained a symbiotic relationship that grants opportunities to the Chaos’ shipping company, Foremost Group, which largely operates in and on behalf of communist China,” the article explained.
Trump’s statement continued, “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. These expenditures are something our Country can never recover from.”
“Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want. 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 former president, and possible 2024 Republican candidate for the White House, concluded.
Trump began speaking out about McConnell on his platform Truth Social on Sunday, after the minority leader told reporters in Kentucky that the GOP may be in trouble during the midterm elections because of poor “candidate quality.”
“Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate[?]” Trump asked in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “This is such an affront to honor and to leadership. He should spend more time (and money!) helping them get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!”
Sen. McConnell did not defend his wife when questioned about Trump calling her “crazy.” When asked if he had any reaction to it, McConnell responded to the reporter by simply saying “no.”
Chao was Trump’s Transportation Secretary, but resigned after the Capitol protest on January 6.