Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 195
Shake Up
“I would never accept a job that requires Senate confirmation or, for that matter, willingly place myself in any situation (e.g., a hearing room) in which convention requires that I be civil to Chuck Schumer.”
— Miguel Estrada, quoted by National Law Journal, knocking down rumors he was in the running to be U.S. solicitor general.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he has “serious, serious concerns” about President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee after their meeting, complaining that the federal judge “avoided answers like the plague,” the AP reports.
Schumer, who met with Judge Neil Gorsuch, stopped short of saying he would oppose the nomination.
Playbook: “Earlier this week, President Donald Trump mocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for crying about the plight of immigrants, saying he was faking, and wondering aloud from the White House who his acting coach was. Yesterday, he followed that up by calling him ‘Fake Tears Chuck Schumer’ to his 23 million Twitter followers. Now he’s asking Schumer to expedite the consideration and support Neil Gorsuch, his nominee for the Supreme Court. Do you think that’s how this works, Mr. President?”
President Donald Trump accused Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) of crying “fake tears” at a news conference criticizing his controversial executive order on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I noticed Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears. I’m going to ask him who is his acting coach.”
CNN has the video of Schumer at an emotional press conference.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told CNN that Donald Trump’s pick to quarterback the replacement of Obamacare, Tom Price, might have broken the law with a questionable stock purchase.
Said Schumer: “If he knew about it, it could very well be a violation of the law. Now they say there’s a broker, it’s kind of strange that this broker would pick this stock totally independently of him introducing legislation that’s so narrow and specific to this company.”
Meanwhile, Time reports Price invested in six pharmaceutical companies before Medicare fight.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to announce on Thursday that he will oppose a fellow senator, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, when his nomination as attorney general comes to a vote, saying he is not confident that Mr. Sessions would “serve as an independent check on the incoming administration,” the New York Times reports.
“I would say to Sen. Schumer, if you look what happened to Jeb Bush or you look what happened to Hillary Clinton, you should be very worried if Donald Trump decides to focus on you because, so far, the track record is pretty good that he can define you a lot better than you can define him.”
— Newt Gingrich, quoted by Politico, warning Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) not to get into a public fight with Donald Trump.
Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) risky gambit to halt the confirmation process for Merrick Garland may have paid off, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned that Republicans will face payback for their year-long blockade of President Obama’s nominee in due time, Politico reports.
Said Schumer: “The consequences are gonna be down the road. We are not going to settle on a Supreme Court nominee. If they don’t appoint someone who’s really good, we’re gonna oppose him tooth and nail.”
When asked whether he would do his best to keep the vacancy open, Schumer responded without hesitation: “Absolutely.”
Jeffrey Toobin: How to stop a Trump Supreme Court nominee
“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you. So even for a practical supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this.”
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), quoted by The Hill, on Donald Trump attacking intelligence agencies.
Sen. Chuck Schumer told CNN that the Democrats’ “move to diminish the number of senators needed to confirm Cabinet picks from 60 votes to 51, because the new rule now hurts his party.”
Said Schumer: “I argued against it at the time. I said both for Supreme Court and in Cabinet should be 60 because on such important positions there should be some degree of bipartisanship. I won on Supreme Court, lost on Cabinet. But it’s what we have to live with now.”
Politico: “The most glaring display of the shift so far is the sprawling leadership team Schumer has appointed and promised to consult before making key decisions — in contrast to Reid’s smaller, close-knit group of lieutenants and knack for taking hard lines on his own.”
“The core group of 10 senators includes Manchin and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) at one end of the political spectrum, and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at the other, making the leadership table a potential hotbed of ideological tension. The 10 lawmakers will be involved in all crucial party meetings, senators said. Reid often limited such gatherings to his top four and occasionally would act unilaterally.”
“Schumer configured a unique structure for his top deputy to head off a clash between Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA), who had refused to rule out challenging Durbin for the No. 2 post. The press-adept Durbin will count votes and serve as a rapid responder to Republicans on controversies of the day, while Murray will be more of a backroom operator and party strategist, paying special attention to Democrats up for reelection after shepherding them into office as DSCC chairman in 2012.”
“We’re not going to do a replacement. If they repeal without a replacement, they will own it. Democrats will not then step up to the plate and come up with a half-baked solution that we will partially own. It’s all theirs.”
— Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), in an interview with the Washington Post, on Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare.
“They have nothing to put in its place. And believe me, just repealing Obamacare, even though they have nothing to put in its place, and saying they’ll do it sometime down the road, will cause huge calamity, from one end of America to the other. They don’t know what to do. They’re like the dog that caught the bus.”
— Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), quoted by the Huffington Post, on Republican promises to repeal Obamacare next month.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) “was elected as the next leader of Senate Democrats on Wednesday, establishing him as one of his party’s most senior officials in Washington and Democrats’ primary partisan counterweight to a Trump administration,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Schumer: “We heard the American people loud and clear. They felt that the government wasn’t working for them. They felt that the economy was rigged against them in many places and that the government was too beholden to big money and special interests.”
In a gesture to his party’s progressive wing, Schumer added Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to a junior role in his newly expanded leadership team.
Playbook: “Soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is backing Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison to be the next head of the Democratic National Committee, a big boost for the Minnesota Democrat as the party searches for a new leader. Schumer spoke with Ellison Thursday afternoon and ‘supports him for chair,’ according to a source close to Schumer, who added: ‘Without a Democratic White House, Schumer’s view is the DNC is where grassroots organizing in sync with leg battles should be organized.’
“Schumer’s nod comes as others like former DNC Chair Howard Dean have launched their own campaigns to run the embattled organization. Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, hasn’t officially thrown his hat in the ring, though he has said he’ll make an announcement on Monday.”
Senate Democratic leader-in-waiting Chuck Schumer told Bloomberg he’s lost confidence in FBI Director James Comey over his handling of the most recent disclosure in the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation — a tough rebuke to a man Schumer has long admired.
Said Schumer: “I do not have confidence in him any longer. To restore my faith, I am going to have to sit down and talk to him and get an explanation for why he did this.”
“I call him the Jewish LBJ.”
— Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), quoted by the Washington Post, on Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “is feeling good enough about the battle for Senate control to essentially predict he’ll be majority leader next year. Not only that, the veteran New York Democrat believes his party is on the cusp of something much bigger: An era of electoral dominance,” Politico reports.
Said Schumer: “We’re going to have a Democratic generation. President Obama helped create it. But it’s just where America’s moving demographically, ideologically and in every way. We’ll have a mandate to get something done.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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