the bench. and now this. kennedy s departure is actually sort of a two-part strategy that led us to this moment, one that pre-dates trump. let s remember of course that mitch mcconnell would not hold hearings for merrick garland, president obama s choice in 2016, saying that it wouldn t be right for a lame duck president to nominate someone to the bench. the republicans for a while now have really prioritized supreme court seats, saying that was their strategy, even as they saw sort of long-term demographic trends in this country going against them, the country becoming more urban and perhaps less white. they thought that a bulwark could exist in the supreme court, and they moved forward in this way. and donald trump, as a candidate, smartly released
deputy attorney general rod rosenstein today. and in a big public way. during this house judiciary committee hearing, congressman jim jordan, republican of ohio, accused rosenstein of hiding information on robert mueller s russia investigation. mr. jordan it s redacted. i am the deputy attorney general of the united states, okay? i m not the person doing the redacting. i m responsible for responding to your concerns as i have. i have a team with me, sir. it s just a fraction of the team that s doing this work. and whenever you brought issues to my attention, i have taken appropriate steps to remedy them. so your statement that i m personally keeping information from you, trying to conceal information you re the boss, mr. rosenstein. that s correct. and my job is to make sure that we respond to your concerns. we have, sir. now, i ve appointed mr. lausch, who is managing that production. and my understanding is it s actually going very well, sir. so i appreciate your concer
attack me personally is wrong. well, it went on like that, and a short time later congressman jordan asked rosenstein about a report that he had somehow threatened staffers on the house intelligence committee. mr. rosenstein, did you threaten staffers on the house intelligence committee? media reports indicate you did. media reports are mistaken. sometimes. but this is what they said. having the nation s number one law enforcement officer threaten to subpoena your calls and e-mails is downright chilling. did you threaten to subpoena their calls and e-mails? no, sir, and there s no way to subpoena phone calls. well, i mean i m just saying. i m reading what the press said. i would suggest that you not rely on what the press says, sir. i didn t ask if there was no way to do it. i asked if you said it. if i said what? what i just read you. no, i did not. who are we supposed to believe? staff members who we ve worked with who have never misled us, or you guys who we
again, i think the house of representatives is going to say otherwise. but your use of this to attack me personally is wrong. well, it went on like that, and a short time later congressman jordan asked rosenstein about a report that he had somehow threatened staffers on the house intelligence committee. mr. rosenstein, did you threaten staffers on the house intelligence committee? media reports indicate you did. media reports are mistaken. sometimes. but this is what they said. having the nation s number one law enforcement officer threaten to subpoena your calls and e-mails is downright chilling. did you threaten to subpoena their calls and e-mails? no, sir, and there s no way to subpoena phone calls. well, i mean i m just saying. i m reading what the press said. i would suggest that you not rely on what the press says, sir. i didn t ask if there was no way to do it. i asked if you said it. if i said what? what i just read you. no, i did not. who are we sup
this. the center, the center left, and the left woke up this morning after the fog of the news about justice kennedy leaving the court with the realization that this president will be selecting a judge, a man or a woman who will be seated on the court presumably in time to potentially adjudicate the president of the united states. what s your thinking about that? well, i think their first thought was this was this would probably be somebody who would help overturn roe v. wade and that somewhere between 15 and 18 states, abortion would be illegal within the next year. so that was the first thought. the second thought is, of course, you know, one more tragedy for what s happening to our justice system, and it doesn t appear to me that there s really a way to stop it. the president is meeting with these senators to shore that up. i mean all we can do, i think, at this point is hope and pray