Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) predicted on Friday’s episode of The Arena With Kasie Hunt that the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s attorney general pick will go down in flames.
Hunt asked about the confirmation hearing for acting AG Todd Blanche, as lame-duck Senate Republicans have drawn Trump’s ire over their refusal to confirm unless they get written confirmation that Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is completely dead.
“When you look at the landscape, are there more Republicans than meet the eye who are opposed to the Blanche nomination over these issues that [John] Cornyn and [Thom] Tillis have raised?” Hunt asked. “And is that number potentially five senators or more like 15?”
“I’m a hard no on Blanche, and I mean, I haven’t encountered a single…Republican that’s like, ‘Oh, I love that $1.8 billion slush fund,’ or whatever you want to refer to it at all. It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, it’s unconstitutional, honestly, from what it seems. And I don’t see him being confirmed,” Fetterman said, continuing:
And if anything, I think he’s going to serve as “acting,” or whatever the term, you know, as long as statutorily he’s able to do that, ’cause I don’t see him being confirmed, because there just aren’t any votes. I mean, he incinerated the careers of several Republicans, Cornyn, [Bill] Cassidy and, well, Tillis, too. So, that’s three right there in play. And Senator McConnell, of course, is ill. So, I mean, the math’s just not there, and there aren’t any Democrats certainly that are going to support this.
“And do you think that there are more Republicans beyond the ones that you just named that also don’t want to vote yes on Todd Blanche, just aren’t willing to say that in public?” Hunt asked.
“That I don’t know, but, because I think they all realize that the math really aren’t there now,” Fetterman said. “And as long — I truly don’t know how long he can serve there. You know, ‘acting’ right now, but I think effectively, he, right now, and he is acting. So is it really much difference? But I really don’t see him being confirmed, at least certainly through the end of the year, honestly. I mean, Trump has zero leverage, whether if it’s Cornyn, or if it’s Cassidy, or Tillis, or these senators that are leaving.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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