GREENVILLE, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s not sure he can work with him former ally turned political enemy If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were re-elected president.
“He will probably support me. I don’t know if I can work with him,” Trump said during a town hall meeting with Fox News on Tuesday. “He gave away trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars that he didn’t need. He made the work of the Democrats much easier.”
Relations between the two Republican leaders soured after McConnell denounced Trump’s role in the Capitol riots, calling it a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” After Trump left office, he increased his attacks on McConnell and ultimately helped block a sweeping bilateral border deal that McConnell supported.
McConnell, like many of his Senate colleagues, has not backed Trump’s re-election bid — though he has said he would support whoever the GOP nominee is, admitting he’s almost certain it’s Trump.
NBC News has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.
Trump too during the town hall he appealed to death Alexei Navalny, compares the death of a Russian opposition leader for him own legal troubles and criminal charges.
“It’s a terrible thing, but it’s happening in our country too. We are becoming a communist country in many ways. If you look again, I am the main candidate. I’ve been charged—I’ve never heard of it.”
Trump also suggested that Navalny would be better off doing his political advocacy outside the threat of Russia.
“He was a very brave guy because if he came back, he could have stayed away, and frankly, it probably would have been better to stay away and talk out of the country than to come back, because people thought that might happen. it happened and it happened,” Trump said.
Navalny, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died suddenly in prison on Friday, the country’s prison service said. President Joe Biden blamed it Due to the death of Navalny, Putin and said on Tuesday In response, the US will apply additional sanctions against Russia.
Garrett Haake contributed.