Mitch McConnell was confronted by fellow diners in a Louisville, Ky. restaurant on Friday night in the Senate majority leader’s latest encounter with protesters.
McConnell and his wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, were dining at Havana Rumba, a popular Louisville Cuban restaurant, when he was accosted by fellow patrons.
One man took McConnell’s to-go box off the table and dumped it on the sidewalk, reported the Courier Journal.
“Why don’t you get out of here?” the man yelled at McConnell according to a video obtained by TMZ. “Why don’t you leave the entire country alone?”
McConnell did not respond, while other patrons told the man to leave.
Earlier that evening, a woman approached McConnell’s table and called him a “traitor” while other patrons in the restaurant clapped, according to the Courier Journal.
The incident is the latest in a string of confrontations McConnell has had with protesters over the last few months. McConnell was confronted by a group opposing the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this month. He was also accosted after a dinner at Georgetown University in June, and heckled by a group of protesters in Louisville in July.
A spokesperson for McConnell told the Courier Journal that the senator and his wife “appreciate those who spoke up against incivility” and added, “as the leader often says, the Senate will not be intimidated by the antics of far-left protesters.”
Earlier this month, McConnell called the demonstrations against Kavanaugh’s appointment “the mob.” He thanked them for a “great political gift,” in that he saw their actions as motivating the Republican base.
