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Despite a recent secret vote anointing Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as the new Senate majority leader, after the Republican Party took back the Senate earlier this month, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the current 82-year-old minority leader, appears to be intent on calling the shots until the bitter end of the 118th Congress.

It was on that note that a perplexing report surfaced late Sunday on X of McConnell saying “there will be no recess appointments” for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet choices. The source of that reporting, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, suddenly deleted her post, adding a bit of mystery to the story.

However, Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio confirmed on Monday that McConnell did voice his opposition to recess appointments at a private event — Desiderio responded to a post from ABC News reporter Allison Pecorin about McConnell dodging a question from her about adjourning the Senate to allow Trump to make recess appointments.

“McConnell did, in fact, make a comment yesterday — which was first revealed by a New Yorker reporter who subsequently deleted her tweet — indicating he’d oppose recess appointments,” he posted on X.

More from Punch Bowl News:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled at a private event Sunday night that he opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s demand for recess appointments.

Of course, McConnell won’t be in charge of the Senate next year, so his pronouncement here doesn’t have as much weight as, say, if incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune were to say something similar. Thune and other top Senate Republicans have taken a cautious line on this so far, saying that they will work to quickly consider Trump’s nominees with hearings and confirmation votes.

The tweet deleted by Mayer, who has been mum about her curious action, can be seen here:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) responded to Mayer’s post by saying, “McConnell is no longer the Senate GOP leader.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who came up short in a bid to replace McConnell as the GOP leader, went even further when he declared, “Yes, there will be.”

The official X account for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is headed up by Elon Muck and Vivel Ramaswamy, had an interesting take on the whole sordid affair.

“Mitch McConnell says there will be no ‘recess appointments’ for Trump. Openly attempting to block Trump’s cabinet picks,” the account posted. “I wonder how much money this old man has laundered and stolen from the American people over the years? Guess we should check into that.”

Tom Tillison
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