Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, both of Kentucky, were caught on a hot microphone Wednesday talking about their strategy for the government shutdown..
The video, captured by local Kentucky news station WPSD Local 6, was shot right after Paul wrapped up an interview with CNN.
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The 40-second video shows Paul approaching McConnell, asking if he has a second to talk.
"I'm all wired up here," McConnell replies. Paul continues anyway.
"I just did CNN, and I just go over and over again, 'We're willing to compromise; we're willing to negotiate,'" he says in the video. "I don't think they poll-tested 'We won't negotiate.' I think it's awful for them to say that over and over again."
McConnell responds: "Yeah, I do too, and I just came back from the two-hour meeting with them, and that was basically the same view privately as it was publicly."
"I think if we keep saying, 'We wanted to defund it. We fought for that, but now we're willing to compromise on this,' I think they can't - we're going to win," Paul says. "I know we don't want to be here, but we're going to win this, I think."
The video was taken at the end of the second day of the government shutdown, the first since 1995. The shutdown followed clashes between the House and the Senate over funding for the Affordable Care Act, also commonly referred to as "Obamacare."
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