Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will speak at his party’s national convention next week in Cleveland, he said Tuesday.
Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju at a Capitol Hill news conference if he would speak, McConnell simply said “Yes” and didn’t respond to a follow-up question.
McConnell’s announcement means that the Republican leaders of both chambers will speak at the four-day event. Paul Ryan, the Republican House speaker, said on Monday that he, too, will deliver remarks.
McConnell endorsed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump right after he became the presumptive nominee, but has since criticized the billionaire publicly and repeatedly, most vocally after Trump attacked a federal judge overseeing a federal lawsuit against Trump University.
Other expected speakers include GOP senators Ted Cruz and Joni Ernst, along with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Trump and his eventual running mate, along with members of Trump’s family, will also address the convention.
Trump’s candidacy has polarized Republicans. Several notable party leaders, including both former Presidents Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, have said they will not be attending or speaking at the convention.
On Tuesday, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who was once floated as a possible Trump running mate before he removed himself from consideration, said he would not be speaking at the convention despite having told CNN earlier this month that he would do so.
“?To stand up in front of a zillion people who aren’t listening to you anyway isn’t really my thing, but I’m going to be highly involved, ” Corker told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I’m sort of a conversational speaker. I’m not a teleprompter kind of speaker.”
