Despite reports that President Donald Trump physically mocked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) last month, Trump said on Monday that their relationship is “closer than ever before.”
After a lunch meeting, Trump and McConnell held an impromptu press conference in the Rose Garden, where the two leaders swatted away reports that their relationship has becoming frosty in recent months.
“We have been friends for a long time and probably now, despite what we read, we are probably now, I think, as least as far as I’m concerned closer than ever before. The relationship is very good. We are fighting for the same thing,” Trump said.
McConnell concurred, saying he and the President “have the same agenda” and have been “friends and acquaintances for a long time.”
“We talk frequently, we don’t give you a readout every time we have a conversation, but frequently we talk on the weekends about the issues that are before us,” McConnell said.
Trump has been vocal about his frustrations with McConnell both publicly on Twitter and in private. Last month, Trump, in private, reportedly physically mocked McConnell’s posture and the way he reacted to Trump striking a deal with Democrats on the debt ceiling.
McConnell has dealt back similar critiques and even suggested that Trump doesn’t understand the complexities of the democratic process.
