President Donald Trump tore into former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for being the lone Republican to vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health Secretary on Thursday.
Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate 52-48, with every Democrat and McConnell voting against him. Meeting with reporters in the Oval Office later in the day, Trump said McConnell was voting against him, not Kennedy.
"I was the one that got him to drop out of the leadership position, so he can't love me. But he's not voting against Bobby, he's voting against me. But that's all right. He endorsed me," Trump told reporters.
McConnell, a childhood survivor of polio, released a statement explaining his vote against Kennedy, one of three Trump Cabinet nominees the Kentuckian has voted against.
"In my lifetime, I've watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles," McConnell wrote.
McConnell announced early in 2024 that he would step down as Republican leader in the Senate, though vowing to finish out his term as senator. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., assumed the mantle of Senate majority leader in the new Congress.
"I feel sorry for Mitch. And I was one of the people that led — he wanted to go to the end, and he wanted to stay leader," Trump said about McConnell.
"He's not equipped, mentally. He wasn't equipped 10 years ago, mentally, in my opinion. He let the Republican Party go to hell. If I didn't come along, the Republican Party wouldn't even exist right now. Mitch McConnell never really had it."
Trump also downplayed McConnell's bout with polio as a reason behind his vote.
"I have no idea if he had polio. All I can tell you about him is he shouldn't have been leader, he knows that. He voted against Bobby. He votes against almost everything. He's a very bitter guy," the president said.
McConnell also was the lone Senate Republican holdout for Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and was one of three Republicans to vote against Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary. Vice President J.D. Vance had to cast the tying vote to confirm Hegseth.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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