Two weeks ago, former and potentially future President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in a sham hush money "trial." Within hours, Senate Republicans rallied around Trump, including with a letter led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) vowing to not cooperate with Democrats. On Thursday, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), who also signed Lee's letter, announced another effort to engage in a hold on Biden's nomination.
As Vance explained in a video message, the new plan looks to "hold Biden nominations, particularly those who have participated in or encouraged the lawfare against Donald Trump and other Republicans."
Vance used his time well to speak to the heart of the matter. "If the Biden administration is going to use these political appointees as foot soldiers in a lawfare against Republicans, then we're not going to give these guys the glidepath anymore, and we should stand together and fight and I hope that more of my Republican colleagues will join me," he offered.
He also had messages for both Democrats and fellow Republicans. As he reminded Democrats, his message is "very simple," which is that Republicans would actually be more willing to work with Democrats if they didn't engage in such a weaponized and politicized justice system.
"If you guys stopped using the judicial system weaponized against your political opposition, we'd be happy to be more cooperative. So take that as an offer, take that in the spirit of a potential compromise here," he offered, though he also had a warning. "You guys need to stop. It's destroying the American people's faith in our system of law and order, and if you stopped that, we'd be happy to try to let some of these nominations through."
When speaking to his fellow Republicans, Vance also acknowledged that their party is still in the minority in their chamber, and that there's also a Democrat in the White House.
"We can't do everything, but we can do some things. And the Senate is not just a high class debate society. There are steps we can take to make it harder for Joe Biden to weaponize our system of law and order against his political opponents. We should take those steps, and this is a good opportunity to use just that," he pointed out.
Here’s our letter. Huge thanks to my colleagues for leading this charge. pic.twitter.com/ipMKVYaLk7
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) June 13, 2024
The letter begins by noting it's a follow-up to the May 31 letter from Lee mentioned above. Specifically, the signers "will not allow the fast-tracking of any Biden Article III court judicial nominees, as well as Biden U.S. attorney nominations" or those who "have suggested the Trump prosecutions were reasonable, endorsed President Trump’s guilt in these sham proceedings, joined or supported organizations that celebrated the indictment of President Trump, supported the “get-Trump” candidacy of Alvin Bragg, or supported lawfare or censorship in other ways."
This also doesn't look to be the last effort that Vance and other Republicans are willing to turn to when it comes to fighting lawfare. As the letter concludes:
“While it is not our intent to bring any single nominee into disrepute, if our rights are challenged on the floor of the U.S. Senate, we will prosecute a forceful public case using all the tools at our disposal. Every signer is pledged to defend against attempts to fast-track the confirmation of Biden nominees. This will be accomplished through a joint effort and not be reliant upon a single Member’s willingness to hold every nominee.”
This announcement is part of a series of ongoing efforts by Republican senators to push back on the Biden administration’s lawfare against his leading political opponent for the presidency.
In addition to Vance and Lee, Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) have also signed on.
Schmitt also released a statement, noting how it was incumbent on him and his colleagues to act. "The Biden Administration and Democrats have engaged in unprecedented lawfare and weaponized our judicial system. My colleagues and I are fighting back. The continued political prosecutions of President Trump shows just how low Biden and Democrats are willing to go -- preventing Democrats from establishing the precedent of prosecuting their opponents starts with us," he said.
According to a press release from Schmitt's office, the holds apply to over 40 nominees, though there's a note the list "could grow if the Biden administration announces further nominations."
Last June, Vance announced he would hold up Department of Justice (DOJ) nominees in response to Trump being arraigned in Miami for yet another criminal case against him, in this case his handling of classified documents.
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