WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday public debate should be on ideas, not personal attacks, in his first public remarks on a controversy touched off by President Donald Trump’s racially charged attacks on four Democratic congresswomen.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, McConnell said the political rhetoric had become overheated in recent days.

(The story has been refiled to add dropped word “should” to headline)