Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany On The Appointment of SCOTUS

September 22, 2020

MS. MCENANY:  Hello, everyone.  Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have officially shown their blatant disregard for the United States Constitution.  Apparently, it is now a high crime and misdemeanor worthy of impeachment for a lawfully elected President of the United States to exercise his constitutional duty.

Article Two, Section Two of the Constitu- — of the Constitution clearly states that the President, quote, “shall nominate,” end quote, justices of the Supreme Court when a vacancy occurs.  No matter the time, no matter the politics of the day, the President is the President.  There is nothing in the Constitution that says the President stops being the President in an election year.

The President has already appointed two strong, conservative justices to the Supreme Court — justices who will interpret the Constitution as written.  Now he will nominate a third.

As Senator Ted Cruz reminds us, “We’re one vote away from seeing our religious liberty votes [rights] stripped away, from our free speech stripped away, from our Second Amendment [being] stripped away.”  Just one vote.  Contrast the President’s solemn constitutional duty with Democrats’ “search and destroy” politics.

Nancy Pelosi has vowed to attack the President with, quote, “arrows.”  Speaker Pelosi will not rule out impeaching this President for doing his job for fulfill- — for fulfilling his constitutional obligation.

AOC said that impeachment is an option, quote, “on the table,” while Chuck Schumer stood by, nodding approvingly.

The plan of House Democrats is so rabidly radical that even Democrat Senator Tim Kaine has rebuked the idea, calling the idea of using impeachment to delay a Supreme Court vote, quote, “foolish.”

Some Democrats already have a backup plan if they don’t get their way on this nomination.  Congressman Joe Kennedy said, “If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021.  It’s that simple.”

Senator Ed Markey went further.  “No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year,” he said.  “If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.”

Senator, the President is elected to a four-year term.  You cannot unilaterally reduce it to three years.  The President is the President.

Democrats cannot win their argument on the merits.  They cannot win on precedent.  So they must search and destroy.

Don Lemon said the quiet — the quiet part out loud last night.  He said this: “We’re going to have to blow up the entire system” if the President does his job as outlined in the Constitution.

That’s the difference between Republicans and Democrats.  We fight to protect the system.  We fight to protect the Constitution when Democrats say outright, “We are going to blow up the entire system because we do not get our way.”

This President will proceed undaunted by Democrat threats.  President Trump will fulfill his duty.  President Trump will appoint the next Supreme Court justice.  President Trump will protect religious liberty.  President Trump will protect our freedom of speech.  President Trump will protect our Second Amendment.

Under this President, our rights will be upheld, our Constitution safeguarded, and this President will fill that seat.

And with that, I’ll take questions.