WASHINGTON — The White House tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with unusually harsh rhetoric on Monday, accusing him of “inept leadership” and questionwhether he can be trusted.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest ripped into the new Senate leader over the stalled anti-sex-trafficking bill, which has hit a snag over an anti-abortion provision that Democrats oppose. And he attacked as “unconscionable” the delay in a full Senate vote to confirm attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.
“It’s a reflection of inept leadership,” Earnest told reporters. “I think it’s an indication that his leadership here in the majority is not off to a very strong start.”
“You gotta hand it to Republicans that they’ve taken a measure even as common-sense as that and turned it into a partisan controversy,” he said.
Earnest called into question whether “Senator McConnell is a man of his word,” mentioning that McConnell said last week that the Lynch vote would come up this week. He attacked the “unconscionable delay” in her confirmation, saying that it had been 128 days since President Barack Obama nominated her.
McConnell changed his tune on Sunday, telling CNN that the Lynch confirmation vote could be delayed until Democrats allow for passage of the trafficking bill.
Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, fired back.
“Well, it’s Josh’s party that’s blocking the bipartisan bill, so maybe the White House could better spend its time trying to help us protect kids,” he said in an email.
