McConnell brushes off Trump's threats to oust him as Republican minority leader

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed off Trump's threats to oust him as minority leader.
• No Republican senator has expressed support to remove McConnell from leadership.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in a new interview appeared unbothered by former President Donald Trump's attempts to oust him from his GOP leadership position.

For more than a year, Trump has fiercely attacked McConnell and tried to minimize his influence within the Republican Party, after the senator had recognized the 2020 election results and condemned Trump in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.

The Washington Examiner on Tuesday evening asked McConnell if he was concerned that Trump might try to remove him as the top Republican in the upper chamber, or prevent him from becoming the majority leader if the party wins back the Senate in this year's midterm elections.

"Every reporter in town, including, I'm sure, you, have been probing to find one for months, right?" McConnell said, referring to any senator who sides with Trump and wants to dislodge McConnell as minority leader. "Have you found one?"

Despite Trump's stronghold over the party and his constant criticisms of the minority leader, no GOP senator has publicly expressed support to take McConnell down.

"That's the answer to your question," McConnell told the Washington Examiner.

McConnell has also embraced Trump's "Old Crow" attacks, calling the nickname his "favorite bourbon," referencing the Kentucky-made bourbon whiskey distilled by Beam Suntory.

The Kentucky Republican has largely avoided weighing in on Trump since the former president left office, whereas Trump has routinely derided McConnell for seemingly insufficient personal loyalty. The senator has emphasized his focus is on pushing back against the Biden administration and winning the 2022 midterm elections. Trump has blasted McConnell's vote in favor of President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure package, as well as his debt-ceiling negotiations with Democrats to avoid a default on the national debt.

"The only people who could have been hurt by making the debt ceiling impossible would have been us. My guiding principle is: Don't do things that are stupid and that take the subject off of what we want it to be on," McConnell told the Washington Examiner.

"If it's bad for the country and bad for Republicans, I'm against it," he added.