President Donald Trump said Monday morning that he would announce a nominee to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on Friday or Saturday.
“I will announce it either Friday or Saturday, and then the work begins,” Trump told the hosts of “Fox and Friends.”
“Hopefully it won’t be too much work, because these are very qualified people,” he continued.
The President said he was weighing five potential nominees, whom he described as “pretty young for the most part.”
Trump told the Fox News hosts that he wanted to wait until after Ginsburg’s memorial services this week out of “respect” for the late justice, who had told her granddaughter Clara Spera that her “most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
When asked about Ginsburg’s wish on Monday, Trump baselessly dismissed it as a potential hoax by his Democratic enemies.
“I don’t know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff, Schumer and Pelosi,” the President said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led the impeachment investigation last year.
“I would be more inclined to the second,” Trump added.
Schiff slammed Trump’s comments via Twitter several hours later, telling the President, “This is low. Even for you.”
“No, I didn’t write Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish to a nation she served so well, and spent her whole life making a more perfect union,” the Democrat tweeted. “But I am going to fight like hell to make it come true.”
Listen to Trump’s remarks about Collins and Murkowski below:
Trump says he'll announce his SCOTUS pick on Friday or Saturday. pic.twitter.com/Ih6NNWq3Bc
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 21, 2020
Short of walking out and denying McConnell a quorum, I can’t see a way forward for senate dems.
Am I missing something?
Take your time, asshole. We all know it’s going to be Barret or Lagoa.
Fat Ass-in-Chief says what?
Yeah, we can all hope this is one of those times when Donnie’s desire to stay in the spotlight makes him drag this out to the New Year.
Given his demonstrated tendencies, it may not be in vain.
Ghoulish. RBG’s passing was less than 70 hours ago, and Trump and the GOP are already stationed by her plot at Arlington National Cemetery with shovels in hand.