White House chief of staff Mark Meadows narrowed the timeline for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee announcement to a specific day.
During a Tuesday morning interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, Meadows said Trump is communicating with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on a daily basis as to a confirmation timeline for the nomination process.
“We still have not made a decision on the timetable. The leader will ultimately make that after we have the hearings in Lindsey Graham’s Judiciary Committee, but they’re all engaged, ready to get to work, and the president, as you have mentioned, plans to make that announcement this Saturday,” Meadows said.
Trump later confirmed the news on his Twitter account. “Exact time TBA,” he tweeted.
I will be announcing my Supreme Court Nominee on Saturday, at the White House! Exact time TBA.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2020
During an interview with Fox and Friends on Monday, Trump said he would make his nominee selection public either Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concluded. “And we want to pay respect. We, it looks like, it looks like we will have, probably, services on Thursday or Friday, as I understand it. I think, in all due respect, we should wait until the services are over for Justice Ginsburg. And so we’re looking probably at Friday or maybe Saturday,” he said.
Trump has also said he will pick a woman for the high court. Federal judges Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa are said to be top contenders.
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have both stated their opposition to voting on a Supreme Court nominee before the election, which is 41 days away as of Tuesday. Republicans control 53 seats in the Senate and would not have room for more than three defections within their party should a nominee be voted on and all Democrats resist the president’s selection. Vice President Mike Pence, however, does have the power to break a tied vote.
Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, have demanded Trump to wait until there is a winner in the November election. Some have even suggested that if Republicans push through a nominee and the Democrats take control of Congress in November, they will vote to expand the Supreme Court.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that “we’ve got the votes to confirm the judge on the floor of the Senate before the election.”
