Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell went after the media after taking criticism for blocking an election-security bill. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo congress McConnell accuses media outlets of 'modern-day McCarthyism'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday accused several media outlets of spewing "modern-day McCarthyism” after facing criticism for blocking an election-security bill.

McConnell's comments came after MSNBC pundits and The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank criticized the Kentucky Republican for obstructing Democrats from passing an election-security bill by voice vote.


Milbank published an op-ed Friday describing the Kentucky Republican as a "Russian asset" who was “doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding." McConnell called it a “shameful smear and based on more lies" and said Milbank "spent much of the Obama administration carrying water for its failed foreign policies."

McConnell also spared little criticism for MSNBC, accusing the network of propagating conspiracy theories.

“This is the state of left-wing politics,” McConnell said. “These people have worn out the volume knob so badly that they have nothing left but the most unhinged smears. Welcome to modern-day McCarthyism.”

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MSNBC declined to comment, and the Washington Post stated that Milbank's column "was a legitimate exercise in commentary."

McConnell defended his opposition to the election-security bill, calling it partisan, and further described Democrats’ attempt to pass the bill as mere theater.

“The outrage industrial complex doesn’t let a little thing like reality get in their way,” McConnell said. “They saw the perfect opportunity to distort and tell lies and fuel partisan hatred.”

The Senate majority leader also touted his own record of criticizing Russia, noting that he requested that Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) examine Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and said that he raised concerns in the 1990s that the Clinton administration was too soft on Russia.

