In '60 Minutes' interview, Mitch McConnell criticizes Trump on tariffs, mum on RFK Jr.

David Catanese, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Feb 2, 2025

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Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign allies were a bad idea, but said he supports most of what this administration wants to accomplish.

“It will drive the cost of everything up. In other words, it’ll be paid for by American consumers,” McConnell said of Trump’s tariffs. “I mean, why would you want to get in a fight with your allies over this?”

His comments came during a a nationally televised interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” and a day after Trump announced a raft of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.

When CBS’ Lesley Stahl asked McConnell how he could reconcile asserting Trump’s unfitness for office following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot with supporting his candidacy in 2024, McConnell put the burden on Republican voters.

“I don’t get decide who gets to be president, the American people do,” he said. “And you have to admit, they did. And he’s back.”

McConnell also said he never confronted the president after Trump used a racial slur against his wife Elaine Chao.

“I chose not to engage with him,” McConnell said. “I don’t feel OK about it.”

The 82-year-old McConnell said he’d be more outspoken about issues than he has in the past, including the isolationist drift within the Republican Party. McConnell has not publicly announced if he plans to seek reelection in 2026.

He also reiterated his belief that Trump’s sweeping pardons of the Jan. 6, 2021 rioters were a mistake.

Still, McConnell did not reveal how he would vote on the nominations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to join the president’s cabinet, a vote that will be critical for both candidacies as they face crucial votes in the U.S. Senate this week.

Gabbard is Trump’s nominee to lead national intelligence, and Kennedy has been tapped to head the Department of Health & Human Services. Each encountered difficult questioning on their past positions and statements during their confirmation hearings this week.

Last week McConnell cast a vote against Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

If all 47 Democrats vote against Gabbard or Kennedy, each can sustain just three GOP defections in order to be confirmed.

Gabbard’s nomination hit turbulence after she wouldn’t explicitly call Edward Snowden a traitor at her hearing, unnerving some Republicans who see Snowden as a leaker of national secrets.

Gabbard did not come up in the CBS interview.

McConnell, a polio survivor, stressed his support for vaccines but did not go further in saying how he’d vote on Kennedy’s nomination.

Kennedy has come under fire on Capitol Hill over his lengthy tenure of spreading misinformation on vaccine effectiveness — something he tried to downplay in hearings last week.

The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote on Tuesday morning on whether to advance Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for HHS secretary.