President Donald Trump advised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to “go nuclear” if Democrats try to block his nomination of federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
“I think there’s a certain dishonesty if they go against their vote from not very long ago and he did get a unanimous endorsement and he’s somebody that should get,” Trump told reporters during a pool spray as he met with Supreme Court advocacy groups.
He said Gorsuch is a “great judge” and will be a “great justice.”
“I mean, you can’t do better,” Trump said. “So, no, I feel that it’s very dishonest if they go about doing that.”
He went on to condemn political “gridlock” in Washington.
“If we end up with the same gridlock that they’ve had in Washington for the last longer than eight years, in all fairness to President Obama, a lot longer than eight years, but if we end up with that gridlock I would say, if you can, Mitch, go nuclear,” Trump said. “Because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. So I would say, it’s up to Mitch, but I would say, go for it.”
The gridlock Trump referred to doubtless included Senate Republicans’ refusal to consider Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Before Trump’s election victory, Republicans suggested that they would continue to block future Supreme Court nominees if Hillary Clinton won the presidency.
Watch the exchange below:
