Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized two of his prominent critics Tuesday after the Senate voted to advance a $95 billion foreign aid package.
McConnell specifically criticized former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for opposing funding more foreign aid for Ukraine.
“The demonization of Ukraine began with Tucker Carlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should have been all along, interviewing Vladimir Putin,” McConnell told reporters at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, apparently reveling in his victory. .
“It had a huge audience that convinced many rank-and-file Republicans.”
McConnell specifically criticized former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for opposing funding more foreign aid for Ukraine.
Mitch McConnell held 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 when President Joe Biden and members of Congress directed more than $75 billion in assistance after the country was invaded by Russia.
Carlson continued to advocate against aid to Ukraine even after Fox News fired him in April 2023.
After founding his own media company, Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin in February, further angering Ukraine supporters.
The Senate voted 80-19 on Tuesday to advance an additional $61 billion for Ukraine, even though 17 Senate Republicans voted against it.
McConnell also criticized former President Donald Trump for helping to sink a bipartisan Senate bill to secure the border in February.
“We all felt the border was a disaster,” he said. ‘First there was an effort to make a law that required dealing with Democrats. So our presidential candidate didn’t seem to want us to do anything at all.
In February, Trump helped kill a Senate foreign aid bill that included an additional $20 billion to secure the border and a series of concessions to Democrats on the immigration issue that angered Trump.
Mitch McConnell announced that he will step down as Senate Republican leader at the end of 2024
Donald Trump helped sink a Senate border bill that McConnell backed in February.
Trump denounced the bills as “a huge gift to Democrats and a death wish for the Republican Party.”
‘Do not be stupid!!! We need a separate bill on borders and immigration,’ he added. ‘It should not be linked to foreign aid in any way!’
After Trump sank the Senate bill in February, McConnell announced his intention to step down as 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 fighting the isolationist movement in my own party,” McConnell said in an interview with a local Kentucky radio station.