Schumer: Senate shouldn’t vote on Gorsuch while FBI investigates Trump

Sen. Chuck Schumer doesn't want the Senate to vote on Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, until after the FBI is finished investigating him.

TheGrio Staff

Mar 22, 2017

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn’t want the Senate to vote on Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, until after the FBI is finished investigating Trump.

“There is a cloud now hanging over the head of the president, and while that’s happening, to have a lifetime appointment made by this president seems very unseemly and there ought to be a delay,” Schumer said on Tuesday in speaking to reporters.

This came after FBI Director James Comey said on Monday that the FBI was investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and administration and the Russian government.

“I’d like to point out that it is the height of irony that Republicans held this Supreme Court seat open for nearly a calendar year while President Obama was in office, but are now rushing to fill the seat for a president whose campaign is under investigation by the FBI,” Schumer said on Senate floor.

“You can bet that if the shoe was on the other foot ― and a Democratic president was under investigation by the FBI ― that Republicans would be howling at the moon about filling a Supreme Court seat in such circumstances,” Schumer added. “After all, they stopped a president who wasn’t under investigation from filling a seat with nearly a year left in his presidency.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded on Tuesday by saying that the confirmation process would continue. “We’ll confirm him before we leave for the April recess,” he said.