President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the firing of a Republican staffer who he says made U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “look foolish and completely out of it” during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
“The guy that came up to Mitch McConnell today when McConnell thought the hearing was over and started speaking in his ear for Mitch to belatedly introduce some other people, all Democrats and, by doing so, made Mitch look foolish and completely out of it, should be immediately fired!” Trump pressed on Truth Social.
“This was a case where Mitch wasn’t confused, he just didn’t understand why he was being asked to do something when it was too late, and people were wrapping up to leave – They wanted to go home.
WATCH:
McConnell: I’m going to ask Senator Murkowski to wrap up. Thank you all for being here
Staffer: Baldwin, Shaheen, and Kennedy still have questions pic.twitter.com/S2z9Kv3OUI
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 12, 2026
The president even included the official photo of the GOP aide, saying: “His name is Robert Karem, he is a Never Trumper, and was grandstanding – trying to show how ‘important’ he was! Karem has tremendous Democrat support, far greater than he should have, and is praised relentlessly by Obama’s people.
“He is probably the reason why Mitch McConnell is stupidly opposed to terminating the Filibuster, and refuses to help with a 97% issue, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. FIRE THE BUM!”
As McConnell tried to wrap up the hearing, at which U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine testified about the Pentagon budget and the ongoing Iran conflict, Karem whispered to the senator that Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and John Kennedy, R-La., still had their own questions to ask.
McConnell replied: “Yeah, obviously there’s not a whole lot of time for a second round, so we’ll get through everybody and Senator Murkowski, I’d appreciate your taking over.”
The former Republican leader has faced plenty of criticism in recent years about his personal health due to numerous falls and verbal gaffes including apparent freezing on camera, which has garnered him the derisive nickname “Glitch McConnell.”
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