President Trump and Judge Neil Gorsuch talked about abortion — but only because Trump thought the issue might have cost him Colorado in the presidential campaign, Gorsuch testified at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing Tuesday.
Earlier in the hearings, Gorsuch denied that he was subject to any litmus tests when being considered for the nomination, including on Roe. v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights case that Trump vowed from the stump that he would seek to overturn through his Supreme Court nominee.
But when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) returned to the issue Tuesday evening, Gorsuch revealed that he and Trump indeed discussed abortion during the interview process for his selection as Trump’s nominee. He elaborated that the conversation was prompted by Trump’s frustration that he lost the primary in Colorado, where Gorsuch is from.
“He was disappointed he had lost Colorado. He said something like if he had had a little more time, he thinks he might have won,” Trump said. “Then he said that one of the topics that came up during the course of the campaign was abortion and that it was very divisive and split people evenly, he found.”
According to Gorsuch, Trump never mentioned Roe by name and the divisiveness of abortion in the campaign was the extent of their conversation on the topic.