Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been at the forefront of the news cycle Wednesday and Thursday after he outright threatened two Associate Justices of the Supreme Court Wednesday at a rally in support of abortion rights.
Senate Republicans rightfully ripped Sen. Schumer’s vicious attack on our judicial institution on the Senate Floor Thursday morning.
Grassley from Senate floor called on Schumer to apologize to Kanvanaugh and Gorsuch in Senate chamber for his comments on the Justices outside the Court yesterday.
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 5, 2020
McConnell says he anticipated Senate Minority Leader would withdraw his comments - "instead he tried to gaslight the entire country and say he was threatening fellow Senators."
— Katherine Gypson (@kgyp) March 5, 2020
Sen. Schumer responded:
“I am angry, the women of America are angry. And yes, we will continue to fight for a woman’s right to choose,” Schumer said on the floor.
Sen. Schumer backhandedly apologized for his sentiments at the Supreme Court, but did not fully own up to his attack on Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh:
“My point was that there would be political consequences for POTUS and Senate GOP if their newly appointed justices stripped a woman’s right to choose.”
The minority leader admitted that he should not have used the words he did, but then contended that he was “in no way making a threat,” and flipped the situation onto Senate Republicans, accusing the majority of “manufacturing outrage.”
“I shouldn’t have used those words but in no way was I making a threat,” Schumer says on the floor of his much-criticized Gorsuch/Kavanaugh remarks
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 5, 2020
Sen. Schumer finished his floor speech by falsely characterizing abortion rights as enshrined in the Constitution:
“We have an obligation to the women of America to fight for their constitutional right to choose,” he said.