President Joe Biden gave a short word of remembrance to longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after the Kentucky Republican announced he is stepping down in November.
Biden and McConnell are longtime friends who spent more than 20 years together in the Senate. Biden also served as president of the Senate during his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.
“He and I have trust, we’ve got a great relationship,” Biden said after speaking at an event on his efforts to fight crime. “We fought like hell, but he never, never, never misrepresented anything. I’m sorry to hear he’s stepping down.”
McConnell has been relatively friendly to Biden since he became president, especially when compared to some hard-line Republicans. McConnell even met Biden at the airport when the president visited Kentucky last January.
“Mitch, it’s great to be with you,” Biden said at the time. “I asked permission if I could say something nice about him. I said I’d campaign for him or against him, whichever helped him the most.”
Earlier Wednesday, McConnell reminisced on his accomplishments in the upper chamber since arriving in 1984, saying it was time to step down in a speech that may be used against Biden in the presidential campaign.
“I turned 82 last week,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “The end of my contributions are closer than I’d prefer.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” the Senate minority leader continued.
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The Kentucky Republican became the party’s top leader in the Senate in 2006 and has won nine straight elections to maintain his position since then. Last year, McConnell beat Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who challenged him for the party leadership position.
McConnell will remain in the Senate. His term is set to end in January 2027.