Trump accuses Senate Democrats using nominee confirmations as leverage for funding deals
In the post, Trump accused Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of slowing down the confirmations of more than 150 executive nominees.
"Democrats, lead[sic] by Cryin' Chuck Schumer, are slow walking my Nominees, more than 150 of them. They wanted us to pay, originally, two billion dollars for approvals. The Dems are CRAZED LUNATICS!!!," the post read.
He implied that Democrats were leveraging the process to extract funding agreements — a tactic his associates have described as "political extortion."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., met with Schumer recently to discuss an offer during ongoing negotiations, but they have not readdressed it directly since choosing to communicate through intermediaries, according to Thune.
While Trump has urged the Senate to make quick moves, Democrats continue to block more nominees than normal.
"I think they're desperately in need of change," Thune said of Senate rules Saturday after negotiations with Schumer and Trump broke down. "I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that."
Historically, nominees have been confirmed unanimously or by voice vote quickly, but Senate Dems have been reportedly forcing roll-call votes on many of the current nominees.
Thune told Fox News Digital that not much headway was being made as "the Dems are dug in on a position that's just not working."
Senate Republicans want to strike a deal that would send nominees with bipartisan support through committee to lightning-fast votes on the floor, but Schumer has not relented.
Trump's claims come after the Senate left Saturday for a month-long August recess without coming to a deal on advancing dozens of nominees, which prompted him to post on Truth Social that Schumer could "GO TO HELL."
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