McConnell backs Merrick Garland for FBI director
Last edited Tue May 16, 2017, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Hill
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 05/16/17 09:49 AM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) is throwing his support behind an unlikely proposal that Judge Merrick Garland should replace fired FBI Director James Comey, acknowledging on Tuesday that he had recommended the former Supreme Court nominee to President Trump.
"It may surprise people, but he has a deep background in criminal law, he was the prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case and I think it would make it clear that President Trump will continue the tradition at the FBI of having an apolitical professional," McConnell said during an appearance on Bloomberg.
The endorsement was an about-face for McConnell, who was instrumental in blocking former President Obama's attempt to confirm Garland to the Supreme Court last year by refusing to hold hearings or votes on the judge.
But Democrats are unlikely to accept Garland trading his lifetime appointment on the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for a ten-year FBI director appointment that Trump could cut short at any time by firing him.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/333570-mcconnell-backs-merrick-garland-for-fbi-director
UPDATE:
Tue May 16, 2017 | 1:08pm EDT
Judge Garland not interested in FBI job: sources
U.S. appeals court judge Merrick Garland, turned away by the Senate last year for a Supreme Court post, is not interested in serving as FBI director, two sources said on Tuesday, even as the top Senate Republican recommended him for the job.
Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has told people around him he "loves his job and is not interested in leaving the judiciary," said one of the sources familiar with the judge's thinking. The two sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he has mentioned Garland to Republican President Donald Trump as a possible successor James Comey, who Trump fired last week as FBI chief. In an interview on Bloomberg Television, McConnell referred to Garland, a former federal prosecutor, as "an apolitical professional" to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Under McConnell's leadership, the Senate last year refused to consider centrist Garland for a lifetime job as a Supreme Court justice after Democratic President Barack Obama nominated him in March 2016. In doing so, McConnell was able to allow Trump, who took office in January, to nominate Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat, restoring the Supreme Court's conservative majority.
Garland, 64, has been praised by both Democrats and Republicans in his two decades on the appeals court. His appointment there is a lifetime one, and if he took on a 10-year term at the FBI it would open up another top judicial seat for Trump to fill.
more
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-fbi-mcconnell-idUSKCN18C1X0
turbinetree
(24,745 posts)Last edited Tue May 16, 2017, 02:08 PM - Edit history (1)
Archae
(46,373 posts)turbinetree
(24,745 posts)and I thank you for the grammatical error find, and have corrected my resentment of this ass****
Wado-------thank you
Phoenix61
(17,025 posts)He really is used to playing to the stupid crowd isn't he.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,034 posts)still_one
(92,502 posts)Last edited Tue May 16, 2017, 11:32 AM - Edit history (1)
is spewing this as a distraction to keep the focus off of the awful job the republicans in congress are doing
but most important, he would love Garland to step down as a judge so republicans could appoint another right wing bigot
BeyondGeography
(39,393 posts)Actually, The Onion is having trouble keeping up these days.
bucolic_frolic
(43,476 posts)Grabbing one of the seats on the D.C. Circuit, a most important court
And TRUMP would appoint a replacement!
NO THANK YOU!
Freethinker65
(10,105 posts)dalton99a
(81,700 posts)Corgigal
(9,291 posts)We see YOU, it's not working.
mreilly
(2,120 posts)... and therefore should be opposed at every turn.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)n/t
George II
(67,782 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)a lifetime appointment to the federal bench to work for a person who is a degenerate and who will likely not serve out his term. Surrreeeeeee, cupcake.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)anyone? anyone?
FakeNoose
(32,884 posts)A really good deal!
Texin
(2,600 posts)however, I have another take altogether on this. For McConnell to throw that out there, it means that even he can see what a shitstorm this stupid fuck is that has crawled up into the WH and infected it like a pus-leaking boil. McConnell knows this orange shitgibbon is in deep trouble and the longer it continues, the worse it's making things for the rest of the rethuglicons in office and all their agenda items.
FakeNoose
(32,884 posts)He's a big part of this whole mess, and his own hands are very dirty.
If (when) Trump goes down, McConnell is probably the next one going down.
So anything this guy says is suspect, and self-serving. Yeah I get what you're saying, but it's way too late to try and reason with this guy. He's beyond reason, he's in butt-saving mode now.
Txbluedog
(1,128 posts)That way Fox can spew how the rethugs in Congress wanted a non-political hack as FBI director but the President decided otherwise
Maven
(10,533 posts)NO WAY
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)Is that a turtle neck or a foreskin?
librechik
(30,678 posts)dalton99a
(81,700 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit Court! Then fire Garland after he "doesn't work out". Great plan.
dalton99a
(81,700 posts)madaboutharry
(40,245 posts)on the D.C. court of appeals. What a joke.
jmowreader
(50,589 posts)If all went according to plan...
Step 1: Caligula nominates Garland as FBI Director
Step 2: Garland vacates the bench
Step 3: Caligula's.vetting team finds something wrong with him - he was nominated to the Supreme Court by Obama, after all - and rejects him for the Directorship
End result: Garland winds up teaching torts at Georgetown Law, someone who makes Antonio Scalia look like Stephen Reinhardt takes Garland's seat on the D.C. Court of Appeals, and Joe Arpaio is named FBI Director.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Too late. He blocked this decent man from even getting a hearing on the Supreme Court nomination. Who in their right mind would want a position in this failing administration?
not fooled
(5,805 posts)Save your crackpot proposals for your idiot base.
Dems aren't imbeciles like those who vote for you in KY.