Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell took another shot at President Donald Trump this week, suggesting the 47th president’s refusal to blame Russia as the sole aggressor who provoked the war in Ukraine “reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage.”
In a statement commemorating the third anniversary of the war, McConnell asserted that Vladimir Putin bears sole responsibility for the “human catastrophe” and warned that even if Ukrainian forces surrendered their weapons, “Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv.”
“Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly,” McConnell said.
He also said that the Biden administration’s “shameful hesitation and half-measures” in responding to Russian aggression were wrong.
While McConnell did not mention Trump by name, he did say that refusing to see that the US wants to defeat Russian aggression would be “even more disgraceful.”
“Refusing to acknowledge Russia as the undeniable and unprovoked aggressor is more than an unseemly moral equivalency — it reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage,” he said.
McConnell, who is the head of the Senate’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, made the statement a few days after Trump said that Trump believed Ukraine started the war with Russia and called Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, “a dictator without elections.”
“America is right to seek an end to this war, but an end that fails to constrain Russian ambition, ensure Ukrainian sovereignty, or strengthen American credibility with both allies and adversaries is no end at all,” McConnell warned.
“Instead, such a hollow peace would invite further aggression,” he said.
McConnell said the “axis of aggressors from Beijing to Moscow,” which includes Iran and North Korea, is seeking an outcome in Ukraine that “undermines the credibility of American deterrence and leaves U.S. interests more vulnerable.”
“Without a clear and resolute commitment to the leadership and order that underpins our prosperity and security, America’s adversaries will receive exactly what they hope for,” he declared.
McConnell’s comments come as the Kentucky senator has been battling a series of health issues.
McConnell, who stepped down from that role last year amid rising concerns about his health, provided an update after he reportedly fell multiple times in February.
The Kentucky Republican, 82, was seen using a wheelchair after he fell down a small flight of stairs at least once while leaving the Senate chamber.
“Fox confirms. McConnell falls down Senate stairs after voting to confirm Scott Turner as HUD Secretary. Unclear about injuries. But Fox is told he appears to be ok. McConnell was helped up by Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK),” Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram tweeted.
According to his office, McConnell, who had polio as a child, is currently using a wheelchair “purely as a precautionary measure.”
“Senator McConnell is fine,” a McConnell spokesman said. “The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told reporters after witnessing the fall: “I think he just slipped on the steps. I was right behind him and helped him get back up, and he walked on his own power to lunch.”
McConnell was seen leaving the lunch on foot, holding onto an aide’s arm. However, he was later spotted by the press returning to the venue in a wheelchair.
In December, he also suffered a fall in the Capitol building following a lunch with his colleagues, resulting in a minor facial cut and a wrist sprain.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), who succeeded McConnell as Senate GOP leader in January, told reporters following the weekly Senate GOP policy luncheon that McConnell was “fine” and “in his office.” He referred any questions about McConnell to the senator’s staff.
Following his fall, the senator reportedly received assistance from medical staff in a wheelchair.
