Despite calls from former President Donald Trump to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told NBCâs Chuck Todd Sunday that McConnell has the âfull supportâ of Republican senators.
“I think there’s full support for Mitch McConnell. I haven’t heard anything other than a solid support for his continued leadership,” Romney said during âMeet the Pressâ Sunday. “People are always trying to placate Donald Trump. I don’t fall in that camp, of course. But I wouldn’t attribute that as a comment about Mitch McConnell as much as a comment about Donald Trump.”
Romney has publicly sparred with Trump, voting once to impeach him in the Senate, becoming the only senator to vote against a member of his own party in such proceedings during the nationâs history.
McConnell drew Trumpâs ire last year, saying the former president was âmorally responsibleâ for the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it,” Newsweek reported McConnell saying at the time. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instruction of their president.”
Trump responded by saying at the time that McConnell would have lost his recent reelection if he did not have Trumpâs endorsement.
“The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse,â Trump said in a statement at the time. “Without my endorsement, McConnell would have lost, and lost badly. Now, his numbers are lower than ever before, he is destroying the Republican side of the Senate, and in so doing, seriously hurting our country.”
Most recently, Trump called McConnell a âloserâ for not backing his case that the 2020 election was unfair and rigged.
âMitch McConnell is a loser,â Trump said in a recent NPR interview. âAnd frankly, Mitch McConnell, if he were on the other side and if Schumer were put in his position, he would have been fighting this like you’ve never seen before.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently tried to get McConnell to âhave a working relationshipâ with Trump, who is still regarded by many, including a loyal base of supporters, to still be the leader of the Republican Party.
“If you want to be a Republican leader in the House or the Senate, you have to have a working relationship with President Donald Trump,” Graham told FOX News last week on Wednesday. Continuing, the South Carolina Republican said, “I’m not going to vote for anybody that can’t have a working relationship with President Trump.”