President Donald Trump said Monday that he had spoken with four potential nominees to fill retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat earlier in the day, and that he would be meeting with “two or three more” before announcing his nominee in a week.
Trump told reporters as he sat beside Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, “I interviewed and met with four potential justices of our great Supreme Court.”
He called the interviewees “outstanding” and “incredible people in so many different ways, academically and every other way.”
He added: “Very interesting, though, was my four meetings. I will be meeting with two or three more, and we will make a decision on the United States Supreme Court, the new justice, that will be made over the next few days and we will be announcing it on Monday. And I look forward to that. I think the person that is chosen will be outstanding.”
Trump told reporters Friday that he’d “narrowed” his list of potential nominees “to about five.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said Sunday that the White House had told her “there have been a few additional, potential nominees added” to Trump’s previously-published list of potential Supreme Court picks.
This post has been updated.
