Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday claimed that he and President Donald Trump are “in regular contact” and “working together,” pushing back on a report that their working relationship has descended into chilly hostility.
“The President and I, and our teams, have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals,” McConnell said in a statement.
McConnell said he and the President “are working together” on numerous policy initiatives.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we are committed to advancing our shared agenda together and anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly not part of the conversation,” he said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that relations between Trump and McConnell have descended into “a feud of mutual resentment and sometimes outright hostility.”
Though McConnell claimed that anyone questioning his apparently rosy working relationship with the President was out of the loop, one of the people casting aspersions on his competence was Trump himself, who lashed out after the Senate failed to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare.
Trump told reporters in August that McConnell’s failure to muster the votes to pass the proposal was “a disgrace” and tweeted, “Mitch, get back to work!”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said Trump and McConnell “remain united on many shared priorities.”
“They will hold previously scheduled meetings following the August recess to discuss these critical items with members of the congressional leadership and the President’s Cabinet,” Sanders said in a statement. “White House and leadership staff are coordinating regarding the details of those meetings.”
This post has been updated.