Mitch McConnell: Obama and I are "the two descendants of slave owners".

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"You know, once again, I find myself in the same situation as President Obama.We are both opposed to reparation and we are both descendants of slaveholders," said McConnell after having been questioned about the existence of a NBC report according to which his relatives would be slaves. changed his point of view on repairs.

McConnell did not say he was aware of slave ownership by his family before the report was released on Monday.

The Obama office declined to comment on McConnell's remarks on Tuesday.

Several media outlets, including the Baltimore Sun and the Guardian, reported during Obama's first presidential election in 2007 that his mother's ancestors owned slave houses.
Obama has opposed the reparations on the 2008 presidential campaign by answering a NAACP questionnaire with: "The legacy and stain of slavery are immeasurable; nothing, including reparations, can not fully compensate. " Obama said that he had applauded the underlying sentiment by "recognizing the continuing legacy of slavery, I would prefer to focus on issues that will directly solve these problems."

More recently, Obama told author Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic in 2016 that he preferred to invest in a more widespread anti-poverty program than a reparations program, arguing for the political reality of 39 such a proposal.

"So, to rephrase it: I have much more confidence in my ability, and that of any president or any leader, to mobilize the American people around a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment to help Every poor child in the country I am able to mobilize the country around to provide a specific benefit to African Americans as a result of slavery and Jim Crow, "Obama said in the interview. "Now we can debate the accuracy of this, but I feel pretty confident in this political assessment."

Coates, who released a touchstone on the subject in 2014, recently testified at a hearing in the House on repairs earlier this year.
McConnell previously cited Obama's electoral success in reparations. Last month, he declared that he opposed the reparation of slavery, claiming that "none of us alive right now is responsible for what we do. he called the "original sin" of America.

"I do not think that the repair of something that is going on 150 years ago and which none of us currently living is responsible for is a good idea," the Kentucky Republican told reporters. response to a question as to whether reparations should be paid or whether a public apology should be presented. be made by the Congress or the President.

"We tried to fight our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, passing a landmark civil rights law, and we elected an African-American president," he said.

Kevin Liptak from CNN contributed to this report.

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