Bill Clinton: ‘Surface hypocrisy’ for Trump and Republicans to fill Supreme Court vacancy

Trump and McConnell said they want the new law to be passed quickly to fill the vacancy Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, died Friday. Republican and Democratic Congress leaders see it as an opportunity for many conservatives to show their timing and speed of the nomination process in Washington to strengthen their majority in the nation’s highest court.

If Republicans are to succeed in filling the void, their efforts will “spread aversion further in our system,” Clinton told Topper.

“Truth be told, in the middle of the presidential season, there was a case for McConnell’s argument that you should tell voters that he was 10 months away,” Clinton said. “But when the shoe is on the other foot and he wants to judge, we’re less than 50 days away and that argument does not cut any mustard. So … it spreads aversion further in our system and you know, he said he would not do it.”

“We have 44 days between now and election day, so it’s definitely on the achievable timetable,” Short said of the time the Senate voted on Trump’s nominee.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed Clinton’s sentiments on the “State of the Union”, telling Topper that Republicans’ “rules” cannot change depending on the president.

“As President Clinton said, you can’t have one rule for the Democratic president and another for the Republicans. They set this example. And they can’t use confusing political power in the middle of an election,” the Minnesota Democrat said.

Clinton recalled Ginsburg on Sunday as a legal expert who was able to put the human impact of her decisions in the first place, which contributed to his decision to elect her to a seat in the High Court.

“She’s unarmed and straight,” he told Topper. “We weren’t talking, but two minutes ago it seemed to me that we were just two friends conversing honestly about American history, the constitution and the law and how it affected real people.”

“I ‘m very sure that whoever I put on the court will be on the level and see people first. And understand the human impact, and she really did. Never lost, “said Clinton.

The story was updated by former President Bill Clinton, Pence Chief of Staff Mark Short and Sen. Amy Klobuchar with additional comments on the “State of the Union”.