Latest news with #politicalextortion
The Independent
04-08-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump tells Schumer ‘go to hell' in meltdown over nominees after Senate fails to agree deal
President Donald Trump has raged at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after the upper chamber of Congress broke for its summer recess without approving a number of his nominees to top posts. 'Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer is demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country,' Trump seethed on Truth Social on Sunday. The billion dollar deal alluded to by the president, presented as though it were a ransom demand, refers to the Democrat's request for the restoration of funding for foreign aid and the National Institutes of Health in exchange for the postponement of the month-long August recess to grant more time to push through the nominees. Trump continued: 'This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted. It is political extortion, by any other name. Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL! 'Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' In a second post, the president continued: '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 president is correct in saying that the veteran New Yorker is under pressure from his own party, as the latest polling continues to reveal Democratic discontent about their side's 'weak' response to the Trump administration's many controversial policies. A defiant Schumer replied to the president's first post twice on X, first declaring that the decision to hold out on an agreement with the Republicans to delay the recess represented the 'Art of the Deal' and then commenting, in reference to the Jeffrey Epstein saga: 'Release the files, Donald.' Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for his part, said it was time to rethink the rules to stop parties employing stalling tactics, like demanding roll calls before each vote on a nominee's confirmation, for short-term political gain. 'I think they're desperately in need of change,' Thune said. '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.' Schumer said attempting to revise the rules when the chamber returns in September would represent 'a huge mistake' and presented the failure to reach an agreement as a win, declaring: 'Donald Trump tried to bully us, go around us, threaten us, call us names, but he got nothing.' 'We have never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as we have right now,' he added. Despite Trump's frustration, the Senate has already waved through a number of his most contentious choices for major cabinet positions like Pete Hegseth and Robert F Kennedy Jr, most recently approving ex-Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top prosecutor to Washington, D.C., and sending the president's former attorney Emile Bove to the federal appeals court.
Fox News
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump accuses Senate Democrats using nominee confirmations as leverage for funding deals
President Donald Trump alleged that Senate Democrats are possibly delaying his nominees in exchange for money in a heated post on Truth Social Sunday night. 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."
