Dark Side
Republican senator suggests Trump is strong-arming judicial nominees through Congress
By Karoun Demirjian, Washington Post, November 29, 2017
Nov 30, 2017 - 11:23:07 AM

A Republican senator on Wednesday appeared to corroborate Democrats’ complaints that the Trump administration has been trying to strong-arm its judicial picks through Congress instead of consulting with lawmakers to find mutually agreeable candidates.

Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) told his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee that White House Counsel Don McGahn had been “very firm . . . to the point that he was on the scarce side, in one conversation, of being polite,” in informing him that the administration’s nominee to fill a vacant seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th District was attorney Kyle Duncan — someone he had never met.

“Full credit: [McGahn] came back later and apologized,” Kennedy said. “But his firmness he did not relent on.”