Vice President JD Vance slammed Sen. Mitch McConnell for voting against Elbridge Colby’s confirmation.
“Mitch’s vote today—like so much of the last few years of his career—is one of the great acts of political pettiness I’ve ever seen,” Vance posted on X.
Colby was confirmed 54-45. McConnell was the only Republican to vote no. Three Democrats backed Colby.
Colby had been tapped for the role by President Donald Trump when he was president-elect.
McConnell criticized Colby’s views on foreign policy. He said Colby downplayed allies and misunderstood America’s global challenges.
“The prioritization that Mr. Colby argues is fresh, new, and urgently needed is, in fact, a return to an Obama-era conception of a la carte geostrategy,” McConnell said.
He warned against Colby’s strategy of pulling back from Europe and the Middle East to focus on the Indo-Pacific. McConnell called it “geostrategic self-harm.”
He added that Colby’s approach might damage key alliances. “It encourages isolationist perversions of peace through strength to continue apace at the highest levels of Administration policymaking.”
Vance had defended Colby during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month.