Say this will be my last term as republican leader of the senate. Im not going anywhere any time soon. However, ill complete my job, my colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in november and they take the helm next january. John as youve been following, Breaking News in the past 30 minutes. Mitch mcconnell stepping down from his Leadership Post this november and with that, welcome to our wednesday edition of the program. Im john roberts in washington. Sandra, big news in just the last little while. Sandra another Breaking News afternoon. Sandra smith in new york. Eightterm senator announcing during remarks on the senate floor moments ago he will continue to serve on capitol hill but hes giving up his Leadership Position within the Republican Party that he has held since 2007. John chad pergram is live on capitol hill with more. Chad, you were saying just in the last hour that he is the longest serving republican leader ever. Longest serving eithe majority or Minority Leader. Both parties. Never been anybody who has served in leadership longer than him, many others, bob dole, Mitch Mcconnell either the Majority Leader or Minority Leader longer than anybody. Here is what will happen. Hes not leaving the senate right away, and will not leave the Leadership Post right away. This fall, and typically what happens in the senate after the election, internal Leadership Election and the first three people you should probably look at, john cornyn, john barrasso, and john thune, the three johns, they have been preparing quietly, Mitch Mcconnell just turned 82, he had some Health Episodes last year and some people started to worry about his health. Hes had his differences with the Presumptive Republican nominee, former president trump, and even this morning there were some senators talking about they didnt like his leadership style. Mitch mcconnell, someone who always seems to know where the votes lie, he always seems to be able to read the politics. Just about a week and a half ago, they passed the Supplemental International aid package for ukraine and taiwan and israel, and Mitch Mcconnell did not get a majority of his conference voting for that, as i always say, its about the math. He wanted to get Border Security into this bill at the behest of his conference and had to back away from that. Its been clear for a while that Mitch Mcconnell has not been fully aligned with his conference. Listen. Believe me, i know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time. I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them. Mitch mcconnell said that you know, hes been here since 1985, at first President Reagan was the president , didnt even know his name, called him senator odonnell, kind of a funny moment. But Mitch Mcconnell in rather touching remarks, he does not show his emotions very often. He plays his cards close to his vest, kind of wept a little bit and teared up and very emotional leaving the senate floor a bit ago. Quoted from the Book Of Ecclesiastes that says for all times there is a season and for Mitch Mcconnell he said it is time to go. Listen. But father time remains undefeated. Im no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues would remember my name. Now, just this morning there was some criticism leveled at senator mcconnell, we hear on a daytoday basis, certain conservatives in the republican conference dont like his leadership style, think he should be more supportive of former president trump. I didnt like how he handled the supplemental Spending Bill for ukraine, and also taiwan and israel here, and so this is very reflective of what we have heard, some of this criticism this morning. This is josh hawley, the republican senator from missouri. Mitch mcconnell is the least popular politician in america either party. Symbol of everything thats wrong with washington. Mitch mcconnell said in his remarks it was clear his contributions were coming closer to an end than the beginning. There was a moment yesterday that we tried to figure out, it was after the white house meeting, remember, you had the big four congressional leaders, Speaker Of The House, Chuck Schumer, the Majority Leader, jeffries and Mitch Mcconnell all go to the white house and in between the democratic and Republican Press conferences we dont see this in person very often, we know they talk on the phone and their aides talk from time to time. But Mitch Mcconnell and Chuck Schumer briefly spoke in the hallway just around the corner from all the reporters and Chuck Schumer came over to the microphone and i said what did you talk about . I was asking him who his favorite reporter was in washington. Which is not me, by the way, in that case. But to see that moment, you know, that was very interesting to have the two of them talking in the hall and maybe mcconnell might have been giving them a heads up. But on capitol hill, no one had a heads up. I ran into john cornyn, the republican senator from texas coming out of a Leadership Meeting shortly before mcconnell spoke on the floor, hes one of the people who might be on the short list to succeed Mitch Mcconnell as the leader of the Republican Party be they in the majority or the minority in the fall and he said he wasnt even aware of this. Again, keep in mind, when they have this Leadership Election in the fall, its not like Speaker Of The House where the entire house votes. This is something internally and mcconnell had a challenger last time around, rick scott, the republican from florida. John chad pergram with the indepth report on Mitch Mcconnell stepping down. Chad, we thank you. Well stand by for any more news out of this. Sandra. Sandra bring in White House CorrespondentJacqui Heinrich live on the north lawn. What are you hearing there . Sandra, we havent gotten word from the white house in terms of a statement or remarks from the president on this news. We also dont know if the president got a heads up yesterday, you had the big four congressional leaders meeting with the president at the white house to fund the government, push Ukraine Aid Forward and the other battles on capitol hill. Biden and mcconnell have a long relationship. Biden was in the senator 36 years and in times of trouble whenever either of them has had any kind of personal issue, illness, or i think mcconnell, when he was ill last year or the year before, they share words of support for each other even though they dont ideology see eyetoeye. Its unclear at this point whether the president got any heads up yesterday or had a chance to talk with the Minority Leader privately before this news came out this morning which as chad mentioned was a big surprise. What else is unclear with this announcement, obviously mcconnell is going to remain in his post until november when republicans can select a new leader and then they would take the helm in january. But does that change sort of who the white house needs to speak to when they have to pick up the phone and call someone in the Senate Republican conference to get this done, that person has long been Mitch Mcconnell. They dont often make them their first phone call but because they see eyetoeye on a lot of issues like ukraine aid, even if there are disagreement on the way to get it done, or some of the other, you know, political issues surrounding it, on the issues that need action typically biden and mcconnell have been able to get an agreement and speak to each other and you kind of heard that out of the reporting yesterday in the big four meeting, some reporting that johnson was alone in the ukraine Aid Discussion and the other folks in the room were kind of ganging up on him in the fight. Interesting to know if the white house will redirect their focus to whoever seems to be the likely successor or if that would be a joint conversation in terms of the legislative discussions that they need to have. But this is a very long relationship and it will be a change for biden if he wins a second term and you dont have mcconnell in a Leadership Position in the senate because it will be a whole different relationship than the one hes been able to rely on for this long. We are awaying any statement. I would be surprised if we didnt get one, i expect we will, the president is doing a roundtable on crime and we will be in the room able to shout some questions at him so hopefully well have some more to give you in short order, guys. As of right now, nothing from the white house on this big and surprising news. Sandra so jacqui, a couple things. The president did not originally have it on his schedule today, very well could have been planned, but we were made aware very last minute just before he went out to marine 1 that i was going for his annual physical. Hes returned from that to the best of my understanding, and now we do await him in this roundtable and set to deliver remarks, jacqui, at 1 30. Thats right. In terms of the physical, you know, we know that there was a little bit more planning than it seems like because they had to do an early call time to get the pool here at the white house sooner than they would normally be here. So there was some level of communication so people would be in place to be able to track the president s movements, but the white house certainly did not advertise what that movement was going to be, and interesting timing that its happening on the same day that hunter is testifying on capitol hill, you might wonder, did they plan this because they wanted to distract what whatever might be happening over there and how it would reflect on the president or good time to slip it into the news cycle, but the remarks the president is giving are on crime. Hes going to try to make the case that the last year of the Trump Administration was the highest number of murders ever recorded, and that his administration has improved crime. But in the room you are going to have Police Chiefs and commissioners from Sanctuary Cities and you know, youve got Migrant Crime becoming a huge issue as immigration is now the top voter concern and one of the issues that these Police Chiefs face is sanctuary city policies dont allow them to enforce federal immigration laws. Case in point, the murder of laken riley, the young Nursing Student in georgia allegedly murdered by a venezuelan migrant arrested in new york and then released before ice got a detainer on him. That blows back to the president s Border Policies and the policies of Sanctuary States and cities. So unclear how compelling a case he can make that his record on crime is better than trumps. I suppose hes going to look at the numbers and say thats the evidence people need to look at, but anecdotally, when you have families and communities experiencing high levels of crime and especially experiencing high levels of Migrant Crime when youve got Record Numbers at the border and this is the Achilles Heel of this administration, unclear if its a winning argument but hes going to try to make it. Sandra Jacqui Heinrich on the Breaking News at the white house, flag us if you get any response to the news on Mitch Mcconnell and of course well be waiting for the president s remarks at 1 30. Thank you so much, jacqui. John for more on the Mitch Mcconnell news, bring in katie pavlich, Fox News Contributor and town hall. Com editor. Its clear Mitch Mcconnell was not the most popular person, even among the Republican Party. Sort of made light of it in his speech saying that he was going to step down, saying i still have enough gas in the tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics and will do so with all the enthusiasm they have become accustomed. Did not give an indication he was not going to stay after november or after at least the new congress is sworn in, what do you think . His senate term is up in 2016, he has to make the decision whether hes going to run again for that position. Hes going to see out the year, get republicans to november. And he has a long history, obviously, of republican politics in the Senate Making moves that have greatly benefitted the conservative movement, republican power. Supreme court, of course, is one of those, kept Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court when barack obama nominated him at the end of his term. And helped replace Justice Ginsburg with Amy Coney Barrett two months before the election when donald trump nominated her for the seat on the Supreme Court, and packing the federal court system with conservative justices they believe will follow the constitution in a way more longterm than a presidency or senate terms are. But you are right, things do change over the course of a long career. John to go from being the leader to just another senator. Maybe, nancy pelosi has done it in the house, from speaker to a senator in the house, but listened to father time being undefeated, may be an indication where hes headed in terms of his Senate Career after he leaves his position of leadership in november. Sandra and chad pergram telling us to now look at barrasso, thune, cornyn, the names on the short list to fill his shoes, katie. Well, we are going to see a big debate about who they think would be the next leader in the senate. There will be some very magnifying of what republicans are looking for in terms of the split you are seeing in the party. It is true Mitch Mcconnell does have some differences with president donald trump. There is republican election coming up. And the leader of the republicans and also for the democrats is not just someone who does business in the senate, but also has to keep in mind how they are able to win races around the country to solidify to get the agenda through. Look at the way it played out in the house with the new speaker, probably see something similar, see people like senator josh hawley wanting real changes when it comes to leadership given that Mitch Mcconnell has been in place so long. A big debate and im sure well be covering every second here in washington. John as you point out, term does not end until 2026, why do you think he pulled the trigger now . Do you think it was health problems, just got fed up with the process . I mean, you dont give up 17 years of leadership unless youve got a compelling reason to do it. Im sure there will be a lot of speculation whether this was about the trump factor, right, of course that plays some kind of role. But Mitch Mcconnell has had some very Serious Health issues over the course of the past year and election after an election is a good time to bow out of a big position like this. Gives him time to be in influential for the rest of the year as republicans try to take back the white house and finish up business in the senate. But you know, in terms of timing, i dont have any insight exactly why he decided to make this decision. There was not a heads up to fellow senators as jacqui reported, we are not sure if President Biden was given a heads up. John cornyn didnt even know. Lots of Different Reasons why he chose this moment but hes had a long career and may have just been the best time to make the announcement. John eight months to figure it out. Sandra marc thiessen, big news. Your reaction. Big news. Look, Mitch Mcconnell will go down in history not only as one of the longest serving Senate Majority leaders but one of the greatest conservative leaders in our countrys history and you just need to look at the role he played in absolutely transforming the judic