But McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao is a member of Trump’s cabinet as transportation secretary, said he sees Trump as someone who has embraced Republican orthodoxy.

“In other words, what the administration is doing, not only am I comfortable with it, but I think the vast majority of Republicans in Congress feel that this is a right-of-center presidency, which is what we had hoped” for, he said.

“If you look at what the president is actually for, it strikes me as indistinguishable from what a President Jeb Bush or a President Marco Rubio would have been advocating: deregulation, tax reform, repeal and replace of Obamacare, judges like Neil Gorsuch,” McConnell said.

Trump’s relationship with Congress has been boosted by the frequent and “very significant” presence of Vice President Mike Pence in the halls of Capitol Hill, McConnell said, describing Pence’s role as “serious value-added.”