CLEVELAND— Sen. Mitch McConnell seized on recent legislative history Tuesday in attacks on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Greeted at the Republican National Convention with a mixture of boos and cheers, the Senate majority leader from Kentucky portrayed Clinton as unfit to handle the challenges currently facing the United States. He contended the former secretary of state has changed her views too often to be trusted.
"I am here to tell you Hillary Clinton will say anything, do anything, and be anything to get elected president. And we cannot allow it," McConnell said.
In response to McConnell's speech, Clinton's campaign claimed he did not attack her until she ran for president. It shared on Twitter a picture with McConnell saying "We're good friends" in 2014.
McConnell is often considered a part of the so-called "establishment" lane of the Republican Party. That puts him in direct contrast with some Trump supporters, who have seized on the businessman's criticism of political elites.
McConnell seemed more intent on bashing Clinton than touting the credentials of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. He highlighted issues on which Clinton has been inconsistent like the Keystone XL pipeline.
He claimed Trump would pass bills President Barack Obama has vetoed, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and passage of the Keystone pipeline.
When Trump became the party's presumptive nominee, McConnell stressed that Trump would not change the GOP, but the party would change him. He has called for a more calm, presidential Trump ahead of the likely general election tilt with Clinton.
He, like top House leader Paul Ryan, has tried to balance support for the party's nominee and criticism of Trump's divisive remarks. McConnell and Ryan both rebuked Trump following his suggestion that a judge in the Trump University case was biased against him because of his Mexican heritage.
McConnell told NBC News in June that he "couldn't disagree more" with Trump's attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel.