Former president Donald Trump lashed out at Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Saturday night, calling him a “broken down hack” over his concerns with GOP “candidate quality” in the upcoming midterm elections.
“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 wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He added: “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!”
McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, served as transportation secretary under Trump and was one of the first Cabinet officials to resign in the wake of the Capitol Riot.
Her family owns a shipping company that transports material to and from China. The Transportation Department’s inspector general launched an investigation last year into accusations that Chao used her office’s staff and resources to support the business. However, the report that came out of the investigation ultimately did not “make any conclusion regarding the compliance of the Secretary or any other Federal employee with any ethical principle or rule.”
Several Republicans on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure have suggested the inspector general’s investigation was politically motivated.
A spokesperson for Chao said in a statement that the report “exonerates the Secretary from baseless accusations and closes the book on an election-year effort to impugn her history-making career as the first Asian American woman appointed to a President’s Cabinet and her outstanding record as the longest tenured Cabinet member since World War II.”
Trump’s attack comes days after McConnell suggested there’s “probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate” in the November elections. Democrats currently control the House with 220 Democrats to 211 Republicans, as well as the evenly-divided Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris serves as the tiebreaking vote.
“Senate races are just different, they’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” McConnell explained.
“Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate. Either our side up slightly or their side up slightly,” he added.
Polling shows several Republican senatorial candidates behind in their races, including three Trump-endorsed candidates: Blake Masters of Arizona, Herschel Walker of Georgia, and Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania.
Trump and McConnell have been at odds since the former president lost the 2020 election.
Tension began brewing after McConnell told the former president in December 2020 that he had recognized Biden as the president-elect.
The pair clashed when McConnell called Trump’s actions leading up to the January 6 Capitol riots “a disgraceful dereliction of duty.” Though the GOP leader voted to acquit Trump on an article of impeachment accusing him of inciting an insurrection, he said the former president was “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the Capitol riot.
Trump then called McConnell a “dumb son of a b****” and a “stone-cold loser” during an off-script speech at a major Republican National Committee donor gathering in April 2021.
“If that were Schumer instead of this dumb son of a b****, Mitch McConnell, they would never allow it to happen,” Trump said at the time, according to the Washington Post, referring to the certification of the 2020 election results.
Trump then said he believes that Republicans will do well in the 2022 elections but the party needs new leadership.
“I think we’re going to do very well. We need good leadership. Mitch McConnell has not done a great job, I think they should change Mitch McConnell,” Trump said in 2021.
However, the Republican leader said at the time that he would support the party’s presidential nominee in 2024, even if Trump wins the nomination.
“Well, I’m going to support the nominee of the Republican Party. I do predict however that there’s going to be a robust competition for the nomination,” he said. “Once that all sorts itself out, as the Republican leader of the Senate obviously I’ll be supporting the Republican nominee for president.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional context about the Transportation Department inspector general’s investigation into Elaine Chao.