President Donald Trump on Monday said he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are "closer than ever before" and made assurances that they have the "same agenda."
The pair met with reporters in the Rose Garden after a lunch at the White House and responded to reports that their relationship has been disintegrating.
McConnell "has been a friend of mine for a long time," Trump told reporters. "Long before the world of politics. Early into his world of politics. We have been friends for a long time and probably now despite what we read, we are probably now, I think, as far as I'm concerned closer than ever before.
"The relationship is very good. We are fighting for the same thing," Trump said.
"We have the same agenda," McConnell said. "We've been friends and acquaintances for a long time. We talk frequently. We don't give you a readout every time we have a conversation, but frequently we talk on the weekends about the issues that are before us.
"Legislatively, obviously, the top priority is tax reduction, and I think what the president and I would both like to say to you today contrary to what some of you may have reported, we are together totally on this agenda to move America forward," McConnell said.
Trump has been hypercritical of McConnell in the past over the Senate's repeated failures to repeal and replace Obamacare.
But Trump reportedly reached out to McConnell over the weekend ahead of Mondays' lunch.
The meeting also comes amid reports that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has McConnell in his crosshairs in his own effort to drain the swamp.
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