President Donald Trump has demanded the firing of a “Never Trumper” aide who helped Mitch McConnell during an awkward Senate flap.
Robert Karem, who worked under Trump during his first term, was seen whispering to McConnell, 84, as he tried to wrap up a hearing with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth early.
“Thank you all for being here,” the former majority leader said, fixing to leave the floor before Karem swooped, telling him that Wisconsin Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, and Republican John Kennedy all still had questions.
This apparently rankled the president, 79, who accused Karem of making on-again, off-again ally McConnell look “foolish and completely out of it.”
For this, he “should be immediately fired!” Trump declared. Leaping to McConnell’s defense, Trump, who turns 80 next month, said the outgoing Kentucky senator merely misunderstood the process, despite serving as a senator since 1985.
“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,” he said.
Trump then name-checked Karem and called him “a Never Trumper.” Karem has worked in roles tied to Trump’s orbit multiple times, both directly inside Trump administrations and indirectly through Republican national security circles aligned with Trump-era policy.
For one, Karem served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during Trump’s first administration. He was nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2018.
He also served on the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes, who chaired it from 2015 to 2019, and was a member of Trump’s first transition team.
Trump claimed he was “grandstanding — trying to show how ‘important’ he was!”
He continued: “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!”
There is no clear public evidence showing unusually large Democratic support for Karem. Andrew Bates, who worked in the Obama-Biden administration as a communications aide, said it was “weird” that Trump was attacking someone he previously nominated.
“It makes sense that President Obama, one of the most popular leaders in America, lives in the head of a president whose numbers are cratering,” Bates told the Daily Beast. “Obama stopped Iran from getting nuclear weapons by actually being a good negotiator and handed Donald Trump a strong economy just before Trump nominated Robert Karem to be a top Defense official. To be fair, maybe Donald Trump can’t remember any of that by now.”
During the hearing, it appeared that Karem was keeping McConnell right. He said that the aging lawmaker should “wrap up” only after all Senators got their time. After Karem whispered to him off-mic, McConnell said, “Yeah. Obviously, not a whole lotta’ time for second rounds, so we’ll get through everybody, and Senator Murkowski, I appreciate you taking over.”
He then left with Karem’s help.
McConnell has had a string of health scares, including being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in February, falling to the ground in the Capitol in October 2025, and suddenly freezing during multiple press conferences in 2023.
He stepped down as Senate Republican leader in 2024. He plans to retire from Congress when his current term concludes in January 2027.
The only senators older than McConnell are Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also 84, and Chuck Grassley, who is 92.
