Trump Blasts Senate Democrats for Plotting End of Legislative Filibuster — Then Admits He Wanted GOP to Do the Same
President Donald Trump attacked Senate Democrats for plotting to end the legislative filibuster if Democratic challenger Joe Biden were to win the 2020 election — but then, in the next breath, admitted that he had urged Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the procedural measure as well.
Speaking with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Trump keyed off a question about Biden’s running mate Sen. Kamala Harris dodging a question about adding seats to the Supreme Court during the vice presidential debate on Wednesday.
“I think it was a terrible thing to say, I think it’s so disrespectful to the people and who should have said something and, you know, say to the best of my knowledge, this is probably what I would do,” Trump said, before pivoting to talk of the legislative filibuster.
“They are going to end the filibuster and they’re going to do things that you wouldn’t have thought,” Trump warned, before saying he had supported the same move to help his agenda. “I’ve been fighting the filibuster with Mitch for a long time because I said Mitch: ‘They’re going to do it — if they ever got in, [Sen. Chuck] Schumer would do that on day one.’ I agree that what they did was right, you know, you take a look at what Mitch and some very good Republican senators, because it’s good for the country, but I said here’s the problem, if they ever got in, if they won, this would be the first move they make.”
Trump then went on to thank former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who eliminated the use of the filibuster for judicial appointments, which the Republicans have used to their advantage in the past four years.
“Harry Reid did it, that’s why we have so many judges. I want to thank you very much, Harry Reid,” Trump said. “He ended the filibuster and I’m going to have 300 judges by the time I finished, 300. It’s a record. By the end of the first term, think of that. It’s a record. By the end of the first term I will have 300 judges, just about, give or take a few.”
Watch the video above, via Fox News.
