‘Stay Out of the Race’: Oklahoma Republican Urges Trump Not to Make Endorsement For GOP Senate Leader

CNN’s Manu Raju took a deep dive into the race to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and laid out some of the dynamics at play.

Raju began on Sunday by noting that the current number two GOP senator, John Thune (R-SD) has had “a bit of a rocky relationship” with former President Donald Trump. “That’s a whole ‘nother segment to discuss,” Raju noted before playing a clip of one of Thune’s GOP backers, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), urging Trump to stay out of the race.

Mullin told CNN’s Dana Bash, “My advice to President Trump, which, you know, President Trump is his own man, he’s going to make it a decision. And he does a good job in that, is to kind of stay out of the race because it’s a lose-lose situation.”

“He needs to work for or with whatever leader is there. And let me tell you, whatever leaders there understands that they’re going to have to work with President Trump too,” Mullin added.

Raju then took a look at the voting records of the top three likely contenders to replace McConnell: Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Thune.

“It’s interesting too, about how, where they come down on some of the key issues,” Raju continued, adding:

There’s a gun safety bill that John Cornyn was involved with. Barrasso voted no, Thune voted no. The foreign aid package, as we discussed in the last segment, Barrasso, the one of the three who voted no. Barrasso also voted against a debt ceiling law that was approved last year. There’s a bit of a difference between the three. How do you see this playing out?

PBS White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López replied, “Well, John Barrasso, clearly based on that voting record, is the one that’s most in line with Trump or the one that seems to follow Trump whenever Trump says that he opposes one of these bills, bipartisan bills that comes to the floor.”

“I think that, you know, they’re all trying to maintain this relationship with Trump because Trump still controls the party. And if we’ve learned anything over the last year or so, especially as the House Republican majority has tried to navigate their majority, is that they all follow whatever Trump says,” Barrón-López added, noting that of the three Barrasso would be the most likely to publicly received support from Trump – who has made it clear he does not want Republicans making deals with Democrats.

Raju also spoke directly to Cornyn and asked him if his bipartisan record could be a liability in his bid to replace McConnell. Cornyn bristled at the question and replied, “Last time I checked, that’s my job.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.