Grassley: ‘If I Can Meet With A Dictator,’ I Can Meet With Garland

UNITED STATES - MARCH 17: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks with a reporter as he waits for the Senate subway on Thursday, March 17, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Thursday brushed off the significance of his plan to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

“If I can meet with a dictator in Uganda, I can surely meet with a decent person in America,” Grassley told CNN.

Though Republican Senate leaders had said that they would not even meet with Obama’s nominee, some GOP senators have now expressed willingness to meet with Garland.

Grassley told CNN it was “pretty hard to say no” to a meeting with Garland.

He spoke with the nominee over the phone, and told him that the Senate would not take up a Supreme Court nomination until the next president is elected.

“I want to make it clear that the message we told him on the phone yesterday — I will tell him face-to-face,” the senator told CNN about his upcoming meeting with Garland.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke with Garland over the phone, but will not meet with the nominee.

Grassley also rejected the idea proposed by a couple Republican senators that the chamber could consider Garland during the lame duck session if a Democrat wins the 2016 election.

“It would be intellectually dishonest for me to say that at this point,” he told CNN.

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Notable Replies

  1. I second the Senator’s motion to appoint Idi Amin as Supreme Court Justice.

  2. interesting that Senator Snodgrassley can’t recognize intellectual dishonesty when he actually participates in it… he must be reading the Cliff Notes version of the Constitution and US history…

  3. Hey, Chuck Honey - you can’t be “intellectually dishonest” if you don’t possess an intellect in the first place.
    I hope this nomination is shoved up Grassley’s anal-retentive ass like a big ear of Iowa corn.

  4. “It would be intellectually dishonest for me to say that at this point,” he told CNN.

    This works well as a standard disclaimer for any and all comments emanating from the Senator.

  5. Chuck Grassley’s entire career in Congress has been based on intellectual dishonesty. Looking forward to the day when he is no longer living off the taxpayer.

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