Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter on Monday implored President Trump to dismiss Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in response to reticence displayed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring legislation funding Trump's proposed Southern border wall to the floor before the 2018 midterm elections.

"Trump needs to fire Mitch's wife," Coulter wrote on Twitter, referring to Chao, whom McConnell married in 1993.

[Mitch McConnell: Protesters waited until I wasn't with my wife Elaine Chao to heckle me]

Trump needs to fire Mitch's wife. https://t.co/2rl6cIeCCb — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 30, 2018



Coulter also shared an article detailing a local radio interview McConnell gave, in which he said funding for a wall-like structure along the U.S.-Mexico border would "probably" have to wait until after the November midterm elections cycle. In the interview, McConnell additionally tamped down speculation Trump would shut down the federal government should he not receive the money required for the wall project, a key promise he made during the 2016 campaign.

Trump on Monday reiterated a threat he had made on Twitter Sunday about closing the government, should Congress fail to provide border wall funding.

"Personally, if we don't get border security, after many, many years of talk within the U.S., I would have no problem having a shutdown," Trump said during a joint White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Coulter's fervent support of Trump waned following the 2016 election as a result of what she perceived as slow progress in the wall's construction.