President Donald Trump slammed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and questioned his experience of childhood polio on Thursday after the former Senate majority leader voted against confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary because of his anti-vaccine views.
“He’s not voting against Bobby. He’s voting against me,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Kennedy. McConnell is “a very bitter guy,” the president continued.
When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins mentioned McConnell’s polio, Trump interrupted her to say: “I don’t know anything about ‘He had polio, he had polio.’”
Collins then asked if he was doubting McConnell’s account of having polio as a 2-year-old. Trump maintained his stance.
“I have no idea if he had polio,” Trump said. “All I can tell you is that he shouldn’t have been leader. He knows that. He voted against Bobby ― he’s voting against almost everything now.”
The president’s comments come in spite of McConnell praising Trump in his statement critiquing Kennedy, saying he “delivered a medical miracle with [Operation] Warp Speed” ― the effort to quickly get a COVID-19 vaccine to market.
“I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” McConnell said. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”
Polio once killed or paralyzed over half a million people each year.
McConnell, who’s predicted to end his political career when his term concludes next year, was the only Republican to vote “no” on confirming Kennedy on Thursday. A day earlier, he was also the lone Republican to vote against Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. He’s also stated he will vote “no” on confirming Kash Patel as FBI director.