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Trump On Pushing SCOTUS Vote: You Can 'Do What You Want' When You Have The Senate

President Donald Trump offered a blunt explanation for Republicans’ hypocritical support for confirming a Supreme Court nominee ahead of the November election: When you control the Senate, you can “sort of do what you want.”

During a Monday phone interview with “Fox & Friends,” Trump was asked whether he understood why Republicans are facing criticism for appearing to flip-flop on the issue of Supreme Court confirmations during a presidential election year.

After Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked a confirmation vote on Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama’s nominee. McConnell claimed at the time that the vote was too close to the 2016 election, and that whoever won that election should pick the nominee.

But hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last Friday, McConnell said Trump’s nominee would receive a vote on the Senate floor. The president said Monday that he would announce his nominee this Friday or Saturday, and that a vote should be held before Election Day.

“I think Merrick Garland is an outstanding judge,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “But the only problem was — and this is up to the Senate — the only problem was, President Obama did not have the Senate.”

″[Obama] didn’t get a lot of judges through because you know why? He didn’t have the Senate,” he said. “So again, that’s an election of a different kind. We had the Senate and the Senate didn’t want to do that, and Mitch didn’t want to do that.”

“So there’s a difference. When you have the Senate, when you have the votes, you can sort of do what you want as long as you have it,” Trump continued. “So now we have the presidency and we have the Senate, and we have every right to do it, and we have plenty of time.”

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