Graham says won't vote for McConnell as Senate leader if he cannot make amends with Trump

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham says he would vote for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to remain as the chamber's top Republican only if he can mend his relationship with former President Trump.

"If you want to be a Republican leader in the House or the Senate, you have to have a working relationship with President Donald Trump,” the South Carolina lawmaker said Wednesday night on the Fox News Channel's "Hannity" show. "He's the most consequential Republican since Ronald Reagan."

Following congressional elections every two years, members hold elections to decide who will lead them in the House and Senate. 

McConnell announced Tuesday that he would run for another term as the leader of the Senate Republican Conference. 

"Can Senator McConnell effectively work with the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump?" also said Graham, who has had an off-and-on relationship with the former president. "I’m not going to vote for anybody that can’t have a working relationship with President Trump. ... If you can't do that, you will fail."

McConnell and Trump have been publicly feuding for months, with their conflict coming to a head after McConnell pinned the blame for the Jan. 6 events on the former president.

Trump has since criticized the longtime GOP leader, with whom he worked efficiently for much of his presidential term, for his vote in favor of the $1 trillion, so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill and his support in allowing Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by way of a simple majority vote.