Fox News alert last night the Senate passed a $95
billion foreign aid bill.
It includes money for Ukraine,
Israel and Taiwan. Joining us now is Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell.
And you think this is a good day for America?
Let me ask you something.
Is $60 billion enough money for Ukraine to push back
Russia decisively?
Well, we hope so.
It's
actually only .2% of our
gross domestic products. So put in it in that context,
it's not a whole lot of money for us,
but it's a very significant
step for them because it gives them the more sophisticated
weapons
they need to hold the Russians at Bay.
And we're optimistic these people run and win.
I mean,
Russians are trying to take their country
and they have enormous incentive and it doesn't require any
of our personnel.
We're we're not getting any Americans killed.
We're helping them defend their independence and also
degrade the military of one of our
biggest adversaries, the Russians. Do you think that President Biden
was too slow to give Ukraine what it needed initially
so that we wouldn't get to this point where they
could have, you know, more,
maybe been in a better position by now,
instead of it feels kind of like they're just losing
slowly?
Yeah, much slower than it should have.
The president made two big mistakes.
Number one was the
withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was not at war.
We kept the lid on terrorism there.
We shouldn't have withdrawn the troops.
Well, we did. That was like sending a green light
to Putin,
who is already thinking seriously about moving his troops up
against the water.
Secondly, we didn't give them sufficient weaponry soon enough.
We tended to react too slowly.
So the administration did make a number of mistakes.
But at least at this point,
after a long delay, we've all come together and done
what needed to be do done to help the Ukrainians.
And, you know, this is a huge issue to the
whole world.
Yeah, the Prime Minister of Japan the other day and
addressed to the
Congress talked about Ukraine. So it's a big deal for
every country in the world that elects its own leadership.
So the vote was
77918. And you've talked about your concern about an isolationist
strain in the Republican Party.
It's, you know, that comes up from time to time
in our history if you look back and there are
people wondering and you can understand their reluctance,
even though it is such a small part of the
GDP,
this foreign aid piece. But they're upset that nothing was
done on the southern border and they feel like Americans
aren't being well taken care of.
Is there anything that the Republicans can do this summer
before the election to make them feel better about that?
Well, I, I certainly agree with that,
Senator. But I think our southern border has been an
unmitigated disaster for this administration and for our
country.
We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
We ought to be able to fix that border
as well as help the democratically elected countries around the
world stand up to the Chinese,
the Russians and the Iranians.
We had a negotiation with the administration over trying to
get some legislation they would agree to.
That fell by the wayside because a lot of my
members,
including myself, hoping we could
make a better deal with them.
And we have to deal with them because
they have the White House,
they have the the Senate.
I think we ought to address that as soon as
possible.
If I were the if I were the president,
I'd fix this myself and take the heat away.
Do you think that having the TikTok
force of the sale of TikTok,
not a TikTok ban, people would still be able to
do TikTok?
Do you think that helps you get to the number
7918?
Well, let me tell you what that was about.
That was about national security.
And I'm a big defender of the 1st Amendment in
free speech.
But when it comes to national security,
we were all concerned about the control of TikTok by
the Chinese.
OK, let's switch to politics a little bit because you
are
in in your last efforts as leader.
You're not leaving the Senate,
but you are. This is your last few months as
the leader,
and your goal is to try to return Republicans to
the majority in the Senate.
I have two questions for you.
What race are you most confident about and which one
are you most concerned about?
Well, certainly the one I'm the most confident about is
West Virginia.
A very, very popular governor of justice is running there.
We're almost certain that's #50 So obviously,
we need another one somewhere else to get the the
majority.
And there'd be nothing wrong with getting more than that
if we could.
Montana,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, all very, very competitive.
And there are other states that could come into play.
Do you think that Maryland is realistic for the Senate
Republicans?
Glad you brought that up.
I should have mentioned that myself.
Yes, we have a fabulous candidate in Maryland.
And who would have ever thought
Maryland would be competitive? Former Governor Hogan has incredible approval
ratings.
And so I should have actually mentioned Maryland.
Well, it was on my mind.
I saw he had a big ad buy today about
$1,000,000 that he's going to spend there.
My last question for you is about President Trump and
President Biden.
So it's the rematch that people are waiting for to
watch to see what happens.
We know throughout history, incumbents usually win a second term,
but not always. Based on your experience,
the polls, where they are today and your instincts,
do you believe that it is possible for Joe Biden
to be a one term president?
What will it take for President Trump to win?
Well, look, we, we know it'll be decided
in about 7 states. So everybody will vote all across
America,
but they're about 7 states that will determine who actually
wins.
And it looks like we're going to have another close
race
like we had in 2020.
Very difficult to predict Who Will Win,
but we're encouraged by the fact that President Biden has
very bad approval numbers on almost every issue.
Senator Mitch McConnell, great to have you this morning.
I know that you are up late working on that
bill,
so we appreciate it. And the President Biden is likely
to sign it today and make comments.
Thank you so much.