'Sleazeball': McConnell's 2020 thoughts on Trump revealed in new book

Just weeks before a presidential election in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., endorsed former President Trump, excerpts from a new book about the longtime Republican leader reveal a fiery McConnell's thoughts on the now-GOP presidential nominee, including that he was "not very smart, irascible, [and] nasty."

Despite the quotes from him over the last several years outlined in the biography, McConnell told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now."  

In "The Price of Power," the leader is quoted saying, "I can’t think of anybody I’d rather be criticized by than this sleazeball," in 2022, as Trump continued to attack his wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, calling her "Coco Chow." 

McConnell provided a series of oral histories for the forthcoming book by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press. 

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In the minority leader's quotes revealed in the book, he doesn't hold back, reportedly slamming Trump as "stupid," "erratic," a "despicable human being," and a "narcissist." 

Despite their publicly strained relationship during and after Trump's time in office, McConnell announced in March his endorsement of the former president, noting that he "earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee." 

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Further, when Trump met with Senate Republicans in Washington, D.C., over the summer, he and McConnell shook hands. 

In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election and before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, McConnell said, "It’s not just the Democrats who are counting the days" until Trump is no longer president. 

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He further praised the "good judgment of the American people" for voting Trump out in 2020.

"They’ve had just enough of the misrepresentations, the outright lies almost on a daily basis, and they fired him," he said, according to the excerpt. 

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McConnell additionally blamed Trump for the House Republicans losing the majority in the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections. He "has every characteristic you would not want a president to have," he said.

In 2022, the Kentucky Republican reflected on Trump's 2020 election fraud claims, which continued to repeat. McConnell lamented, "Unfortunately, about half the Republicans in the country believe whatever he says." 

The Trump campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

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The Senate minority leader announced in February that he would not seek the position again in the next Congress. Reigning since 2007 as Republican leader, McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in the chamber's history. 

After the presidential election next month, the Republican senators and likely GOP senator-elects will vote in a secret ballot to decide on the next leader. The announced candidates are Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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