Vance slams McConnell

Vance slams McConnell after the former GOP leader ripped into Trump's Ukraine peace proposal

From CNN’s Morgan Rimmer

Vice President JD Vance slammed former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, after McConnell criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “play President Trump for a fool.”

In a post on X today, Vance replied to McConnell’s statement, saying, “This is a ridiculous attack on the president’s team, which has worked tirelessly to clean up the mess in Ukraine that Mitch – always eager to write blank checks to Biden’s foreign policy – left us. I wonder if the three candidates to replace McConnell in Kentucky share his views here.”

McConnell has previously announced he will not seek reelection in 2026.

The Kentucky Republican’s first post criticizing the reported plan came on Friday, warning that it would be “disastrous to America’s interests,” and telling Trump to “find new advisors.”

“Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool. If Administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the President ought to find new advisors,” he said. “Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests. And a capitulation like Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan would be catastrophic to a legacy of peace through strength.”

Over the weekend as the administration pulled back from the proposal amid backlash from within the GOP and from allies abroad. At the time, McConnell again warned, “Our credibility is on the line.”