McConnell Says Trump Is Not Yet A "Credible Candidate"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has reservations about the candidate at the top the 2016 Republican ticket: Donald Trump.

McConnell made headlines earlier this week for declining to say whether Trump is qualified for the presidency.

But in an interview with Washington, D.C. bureau reporter Geoff Bennett, McConnell said Trump is not yet a credible presidential candidate.

McConnell: "Trump clearly needs to change, in my opinion, to win the general election. What I’ve said to him both publicly and privately: 'You’re a great entertainer. You turn on audiences. You’re good before a crowd. You have a lot of Twitter followers. That worked fine for you in the primaries. But now that you are in the general, people are looking for a level of seriousness that is typically conveyed by having a prepared text and Teleprompter and staying on message.' So my hope is that he is beginning to pivot and become what I would call a more serious and credible candidate for the highest office in the land."

Bennett: "At the moment, though, I hear you saying he does not meet that threshold of credibility?"

McConnell: "He’s getting closer. Getting closer."

McConnell, however, called Democrat Hillary Clinton "intelligent and capable" in the interview but said he hopes Republicans win the White House this fall.

He spoke with Time Warner Cable News, in part, to promote his new memoir, The Long Game.