Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh at a Planned Parenthood rally on Wednesday. The Democrat said that the Trump-appointed justices would "pay the price" if they vote the wrong way on an upcoming abortion case. His incendiary words made House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's life a lot harder Thursday on Capitol Hill, because even after his attempted apology, she couldn't justify them.
.@SpeakerPelosi on Sen. Schumer: "I think the Republicans say it's okay if the president does it, but it's not okay if other people do. It wasn't right for anybody to do and Chuck recognized those words." pic.twitter.com/9fAg6BvcLw
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 5, 2020
"I believe he also said on the floor today that his words were not appropriate," Pelosi offered. "And I support him in that."
"It's unfortunate because as you can see, I think the Republicans say it's okay if the president does it, but it's not okay if other people do. It wasn't right for anybody to do and Chuck recognized those words."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had no issue putting Schumer in his place during his Senate floor remarks Thursday morning.
.@senatemajldr McConnell criticizes Schumer for his threats against Gorsuch and Kavanaugh: The minority leader of the United States Senate threatened two associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, period! There’s no other way to interpret that. pic.twitter.com/hC0ZqtzEJx
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) March 5, 2020
In his response, Schumer said he didn't mean to use the words he used.
"I shouldn’t have used those words but in no way was I making a threat,” he claimed.
But if that's the case, asked Fox News anchor Bret Baier, then why did his comms team defend his statement on Twitter?