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    'You May Need The Money More Than I Do': McConnell Once Returned Trump's Donation

    In 1990, Mitch McConnell returned a $1,000 campaign donation from Donald Trump, who was in severe financial trouble. It's a view into a complicated relationship between two very different politicians.
    by Eric Mennel Jul 11, 2019 7 minutes
    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell listens as President Trump speaks to reporters following a meeting at the White House in October 2017.

    Even from the beginning, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump had a complicated relationship.

    In 1989, McConnell was running for re-election to the Senate. As he once told a Senate committee, the reason he and other lawmakers spent much of their time fundraising was because "we like to win."

    And that fall, he received a $1,000 campaign check (the legal maximum at the time) from one prolific political donor: then-real-estate developer and author of the bestselling The Art Of The Deal Donald J. Trump.

    But in 1990, Trump's financial fortunes — and the headlines he generated — changed.

    Many of his casinos were underperforming, some on the verge of bankruptcy. And Forbes magazine dropped Trump from its annual list of the 400 wealthiest people, saying that his fortune was "within hailing distance of zero."

    According to recent reporting by the New York Times, Trump lost a combined $517.6 million between 1990 and 1991.

    McConnell's opponent in his Senate race, Democrat Harvey Sloane, started criticizing the freshman senator for getting out-of-state campaign contributions like the check from Trump.

    "Kentucky needs a relatively obscure senator

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