Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Tuesday pushed back hard on former President Trump’s description of Hezbollah as “very smart.”
McConnell also defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “great leader” when asked about Trump’s criticism of the Israeli leader.
“I can’t disagree more,” McConnell told reporters when asked about Trump’s assertion that Hezbollah is “very smart.”
McConnell called Hezbollah “a terrorist organization just like Hamas.”
The Senate Republican leader also praised Netanyahu when asked about Trump’s criticism of the Israeli leader for intelligence lapses ahead of Hamas’s attack on Israeli towns around the Gaza Strip.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is one of the great leaders of modern times,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s forceful response to Trump’s controversial comments marked a rare instance this year when the Senate GOP leader has commented on Trump, who faces 91 felony counts.
McConnell usually declines to comments about candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Trump is leading the rest of the Republican presidential field by huge margins in multiple state and national polls.
Trump last week said the intelligence lapses ahead of the attack reflected poorly on Netanyahu.
“Thousands of people knew about it, and they let this slip by,” Trump said. “That was not a good thing for him or for anybody.”