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McConnell Says He Supports Mueller Investigation

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told NPR that he continues to support the Mueller investigation and that nothing he heard in a secret briefing Thursday changes his mind.
Claire Harbage
/
NPR
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told NPR that he continues to support the Mueller investigation and that nothing he heard in a secret briefing Thursday changes his mind.

Updated at 6:31 p.m. ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told NPR in an interview that he continues to support the Mueller Russia investigation — and that nothing in Thursday's hotly anticipated secret briefing on the Russia probe to congressional leaders changed his mind.

"The two investigations going on that I think will give us the answers to the questions that you raise — the [inspector general] investigation in the Justice Department and the Mueller investigation," McConnell said. "I support both of them, and I don't really have anything to add to this subject based upon the Gang of Eight briefing that we had today, which was classified."

McConnell spoke with NPR immediately following a classified intelligence briefing from law enforcement and intelligence officials. The Gang of Eight — a bipartisan group of the four top congressional leaders and the four bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees — met with representatives from the Department of Justice and the FBI to discuss materials regarding a confidential FBI source who met with Trump campaign officials.

McConnell has remained the most prominent congressional Republican to defend Mueller and his investigation amid a concerted effort by Trump and conservative supporters to discredit that investigation.

The president has accused the investigation of being a partisan "witch hunt" and the investigators of being "conflicted." There is a hashtag devoted to what the president and his allies are calling "SPYGATE" that the president himself is using. Trump boasted that it "could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!"

The briefing and the intense conservative scrutiny of the FBI comes as lawmakers are leaving Washington for a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Members up for re-election typically use the break to campaign on the legislative successes of the first half of the year. But the Russia investigation threatens to overshadow many of those victories.

McConnell touted those successes amid fears that Republicans are at risk of losing their majorities in the House and the Senate. And he would like Trump's help selling that to voters.

"If you are a right-of-center person, there hasn't been a better period than this in at least three decades," McConnell said. "Obviously we'd like to see him talking about what we're sitting here talking about more of the time. And I think many of us have urged him to do that and we hope he will."

Also in the NPR interview, McConnell expressed confidence in Trump's decision to cancel the North Korea summit.

"I think the president did exactly the right thing," McConnell said, "because they were playing with us."

McConnell's comments come amid a concerted effort by Trump and conservative supporters to discredit the Mueller investigation. The president has accused the investigation of being a partisan "witch hunt" and the investigators of being "conflicted."
Claire Harbage / NPR
/
NPR
McConnell's comments come amid a concerted effort by Trump and conservative supporters to discredit the Mueller investigation. The president has accused the investigation of being a partisan "witch hunt" and the investigators of being "conflicted."

He called it a "pattern of that over the last couple of decades."

On immigration, McConnell made clear he will not push for immigration legislation. He put the ball in the House's court instead, saying, "If the House passes a bill that the president would sign, I'd be open to it."

But, he added, he is not going to allow for another open amendment process that produced no discernible results on immigration, like he did in February.

"I'm not going to do that again, I can tell you that," McConnell said.

McConnell noted that filling out federal judicial appointments is his top priority and that if a Supreme Court vacancy came up this year, he would act — despite this being an election year.

In 2016, McConnell took a very different position, refusing to bring Judge Merrick Garland's appointment to the Senate floor or even give him a hearing. He said that the new president should decide who is on the Supreme Court.

When asked if someone could argue that he should wait to make an appointment so whoever controls the Senate can make the decision — setting hearings, vetting nominees, laying out timetables — he said that would be a "foolish argument."

He did not see irony in his stance given his position on Garland because Justice Antonin Scalia died in a presidential election year.

"The presidential election is in 2020," McConnell said. "If we get a vacancy on the court this year, we'll deal with it."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Susan Davis is a congressional correspondent for NPR and a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. She has covered Congress, elections, and national politics since 2002 for publications including USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, National Journal and Roll Call. She appears regularly on television and radio outlets to discuss congressional and national politics, and she is a contributor on PBS's Washington Week with Robert Costa. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., and a Philadelphia native.
Kelsey Snell is a Congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress since 2010 for outlets including The Washington Post, Politico and National Journal. She has covered elections and Congress with a reporting specialty in budget, tax and economic policy. She has a graduate degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago.
Domenico Montanaro
Domenico Montanaro is NPR's senior political editor/correspondent. Based in Washington, D.C., his work appears on air and online delivering analysis of the political climate in Washington and campaigns. He also helps edit political coverage.