Trump says Congress should "impeach" Mitch McConnell on debt ceiling, and laments his support

Trump says Congress should "impeach" Mitch McConnell

on debt ceiling, and laments his support

WASHINGTON - Former President Trump said on Thursday that the Senate should "impeach" Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and that he regrets his support for re-election in 2020.

"I made a mistake

I supported it,"

Trump said in an interview with the Real America's Voice news and entertainment network. "He came to me - he was very kind to me and asked for my consent."

It's crazy what's going on with this debt ceiling. Trump later added in the interview. They must have something - how he approves this thing is unbelievable.

Unlike Trump

• who was impeached twice in his four years in office

• senators could be censured or expelled

• by a two-thirds vote. Since the Civil War, no senator has been kicked out of office.

The former president was referring to a further possible increase in the total amount of debt the federal government is allowed to accumulate.

It last increased by $2.5 trillion to about $31.4 trillion in December last year. The United States is expected to reach the new debt limit by July 2023.

McConnell did not say

• what Republicans would do on the debt ceiling if they restored

• the Senate after the midterm elections

• although he struck a deal

with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to increase December.

Former President Donald Trump was adamant that Senator Mitch McConnell was a "bad guy who did a bad job."

AFP via Getty Images

Months ago

• McConnell warned President Biden

• after an earlier Senate vote to increase

• the short-term debt ceiling that

Any future attempt to lessen the effects of democratic mismanagement will not have my support.

Without raising the debt ceiling

the United States is likely to default on its loans, lowering the country's credit rating if lawmakers find no other way to reduce its debt.

Trump made no suggestions on how to reduce debt during his Thursday interview, but he was adamant that McConnell was a "bad guy who did a bad job."

The attacks come about

a month after Trump criticized the 80-year-old senator on October 1 on Truth Social, saying McConnell had a "desire to die" and was "willing to take down the country with him."

Trump also referred to McConnell's wife, former Trump Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, as "Coco Chow," a remark that many considered racist.

At that time

McConnell refused to respond to the 45th President's accusations.

The senator said last month:

The only time I've answered the president, I think, since he left office is when he gave me my favorite title - Old Crow - which I considered a compliment.

After all, Henry Clay's favorite was Bourbon."