Trump: ‘I do’ have confidence in McConnell

President Trump said in an interview broadcast early Thursday that he has confidence in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), but shifted quickly to criticizing the filibuster.

Trump told Fox News’s “Fox and Friends” that he believes Senate Republicans have the votes to repeal ObamaCare next year, after the Republicans’ latest effort stalled this week.

{mosads}”We have the votes. We will do it some time at the beginning of the year, but prior to the election in November,” Trump said.

“Do you still have confidence in Mitch McConnell?” asked host Pete Hegseth.

“I do. I mean, look, I’ve dealt with Mitch for a long time,” Trump said. “[But] I think he has to get rid of the filibuster rule. I think it’s just a disaster for the Republican Party.”

“There are 270 bills right now sitting before the Senate. You’re not going to get them approved, because you’re not going to get eight Democrats. And they want to keep this horrible filibuster rule, which says basically, you need 60,” he added. “They’re just making a mistake. But, no, I have confidence in — look, I really like all of these people. I think they’re terrific people.”

Trump warned the GOP that he will be forced to work with Democrats to achieve his legislative agenda.

“In the meantime, I’m going to start negotiating with Democrats. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “I have that little period of time, I’ll negotiate with the Democrats if we can come up with a fantastic health-care bill, that’s OK with me. Good for both parties. Bipartisan.”