Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “I think the demonization of Ukraine began by Tucker Carlson.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blamed the “demonization of Ukraine” on Tucker Carlson, as the Senate voted to advance a $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

Eight Republicans flipped from opposing the final vote on the previous aid bill in February to advancing the bill Tuesday.

“You’ve been probably one of the most ardent backers of Ukraine in the Senate here, but what took so long to get some of these other eight Republicans persuaded to your position? Was it the overall nature of this bill? And what was lost in that time period for Ukraine?” Fox News’ Chad Pergram asked the minority leader at a press conference.

“Well, that’s a good question. You already know the answer,” McConnell replied. “I think the demonization of Ukraine began by Tucker Carlson, who, in my opinion, ended up where he should have been all along, which is interviewing Vladimir Putin.”

“He had an enormous audience, which convinced a lot of rank-and-file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake,” he added.