Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he had “candid” conversations with President Trump when asked about reports that he and Trump got into “screaming matches” during the president’s first term in office.
“We had a candid relationship,” McConnell said with a chuckle when asked by Lesley Stahl about his screaming matches with Trump during an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Asked about Trump’s comment that McConnell is a “sullen … unsmiling political hack,” McConnell opted not to return fire during the interview.
And when asked about his comments, reported in recent biography, that he thought that Trump was “nasty” and a “sleazeball,” McConnell responded: “Those were private comments.”
“But they’re in your biography,” Stahl interjected.
“Yeah,” McConnell admitted.
The veteran Kentucky lawmaker also criticized Trump for pardoning people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and revealed he hasn’t spoken with Trump for “quite a while.”
“I was very upset about what happened Jan. 6,” he said.
McConnell told Stahl he viewed the events of that day an “insurrection.”
“I think pardoning people who’ve been convicted is a mistake,” he said.