Senate

Warren: ‘Nuts’ to confirm Gorsuch during FBI’s Trump-Russia probe

by Jordain Carney - 04/04/17 5:11 PM ET

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on Tuesday that the Senate shouldn’t confirm a Supreme Court nominee from President Trump while the FBI is still investigating any potential ties between his campaign and Russia.

“I think it is crazy that we are considering confirming a lifetime Trump nominee to the Supreme Court at a moment when the president’s campaign is under the cloud of an active, ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation,” Warren said from the Senate floor.

She added that the FBI’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election “could result in indictments and appeals that will go all the way to the Supreme Court, so that Trump’s nominee could be the deciding vote on whether Trump or his supporters broke the law.”

FBI Director James Comey confirmed during a public hearing earlier this year that the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s meddling includes seeking potential connections between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.

{mosads}Warren said on Tuesday that the decision to continue with Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation was “nuts.”

“I believe we should tap the breaks on any nominee until this investigation is concluded.”

The FBI hasn’t given a timeline for when it will wrap up its nomination. The House and Senate Intelligence committees are also conducting their own probes into the election.

Democrats have floated that the Senate should hold off on confirming Gorsuch because of the FBI’s probe, a demand that has been rejected by Republicans.

Warren’s speech comes as the fight over the Supreme Court nominee will come to a head on Thursday. Gorsuch is expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome an initial procedural hurdle.

In response, Senate Republicans will likely vote to change the rules, eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees and thus allowing them to move directly to a simple-majority vote.

Warren has said that she will oppose Gorsuch’s nomination, adding on Tuesday that its the “latest step in a long political campaign by right-wing groups and their billionaire backs to capture our courts.”

Tags Elizabeth Warren