President Donald Trump unloaded on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a rant filled with four-letter words before a delay that brought Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump blew up in a phone call with the Senate leader who is trying to guide the imperiled nomination through confirmation – and who help open another court seat and helped design the strategy that put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
The president blew up in a call from his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course, telling McConnell he had ‘let the process get away from him, the New York Times reported.
The president blew up in a call from his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course, telling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell he had ‘let the process get away from him,’ the New York Times reported
Under pressure from Democrats and a few Republicans, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a planned hearing so that it could take testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who told senators Kavnaugh tried to rape her at a small party in 1982.
Trump – who publicly said senators were free to make their own decisions – also complained about the stunning decision to hold off on a floor vote for a week. That happened under pressure Friday afternoon, when Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake agreed with Democrats to let the FBI do additional background checking. He voted along with other Republicans to move Kavanaugh through committee, but said he wouldn’t accept a floor vote sooner than that.
Trump later complained that Republicans and his own White House counsel, Don McGahn, made a mistake by not holding a Senate floor vote on Friday. According to the report, Trump said wavering senators should have been forced to vote against Kavanaugh and suffer the consequences.
Kavanaugh’s path to confirmation has been hindered by a series of delays
The Senate did vote to proceed to the nomination by unanimous consent on Friday, but McConnell, who met with fellow Republicans Friday afternoon, doesn’t intend to bring up the nomination while key potential supporters are not ready.
Two other GOP centrists, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, said they supported the delay, so a full vote could have brought down the nomination unless they caved to pressure.
Approval: At the White House Donald Trump, who was meeting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in the Oval Office, signaled he would follow whatever the Republican Senate leadership demanded
Senate Judiciary Committee member Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) (C) speaks with colleagues after a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 28, 2018, on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Amid reports the FBI is speeding to complete its background check on a limited basis, it is possible the process will strengthen the GOP’s hand by appearing to undercut a central Democratic argument: that allegations of assault against Kavanaugh have not been properly probed.
On Friday afternoon, Trump sounded much more laissez-faire about how the process should go.
‘I’m going to let the Senate handle that. They’ll make their decisions,’ the president said, minutes after bombshell developments inside the committee room.
“They have to do what they think is right. There is no message whatsoever. They have to do what they think is right. They have to be comfortable with themselves, and I’m sure that’s what they want,’ Trump added publicly in the Oval Office.