Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized Tucker Carlson for fomenting doubt about the Ukraine conflict among Republican ranks because it delayed the passage of new foreign aid by months.
His remarks came after the Senate passed the $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan by a 70-29 vote, with 22 Republicans voting in favor.
“I think the demonization of Ukraine began by Tucker Carlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should’ve been all along, which is interviewing Vladimir Putin,” McConnell said Tuesday during a press briefing on Capitol Hill.
.@LeaderMcConnell: “I think the demonization of Ukraine began by @TuckerCarlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should have been all along, which is interviewing Vladimir Putin.” pic.twitter.com/brVaYt4Eek
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 23, 2024
“And so he had an enormous audience, which convinced a lot of rank and file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake.”
The Kentucky senator went on jab former President Donald Trump for sitting on the fence over assistance for Ukraine.
“I think the former president had sort of mixed views on” Ukraine aid, he explained, before alluding to the failed attempt to add border security funding to the bill, “which requires you to deal with Democrats, and then a number of our members thought it wasn’t good enough.”
“And then our nominee for president didn’t seem to want us to do anything at all,” he added. “That took months to work our way through it.”
McConnell also hailed the passage of the massive spending bill.
“History settles every account,” McConnell said in a statement following the vote. “And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink.”
Months after suffering a prolonged brain freeze mid-speech, McConnell announced in February that he would step down as GOP leader in November to make way for the “the next generation of leadership” in the Republican conference.
Watch McConnell’s full remarks:
