“McConnell made whatever secret deal he made with the White House without talking to me,” Paul said Monday. “And so we just said we’re not against Meredith, but McConnell will at least discuss it with his other state senator.” Paul, who said he learned of Meredith’s selection from the FBI, added: “I think ultimately, McConnell’s fault for botching it because he tried to sneak it in, the Democrats picked up on it in the state and also. he tried to do it secretly even from his Republican counterpart.” McConnell was furious with Paul’s position, telling The New York Times last week: “The net effect of this is that it prevented me from getting my own judge out of a liberal Democratic president,” adding that Paul’s position is “just completely pointless”. McConnell’s office declined to comment on Paul’s remarks. Paul said he was “very open” to picking Meredith — and could have supported him if McConnell had handled it differently. “I was willing to talk about it and say — because look, I’m as pro-life as they come, I would have supported Chad Meredith, I know the family,” Paul said. “But in the end, the whole point was that we let McConnell’s office know that we were willing to talk about it. I don’t know why he wanted to, but he never really offered to talk about it.”
