President Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday, accusing the lawmaker of ‘extortion’ for holding up Trump’s nominees in the Senate.
Trump made the statement from his Truth Social account, arguing that never in U.S. history have so many of a president’s nominees been bottlenecked in the Senate. Senate Republicans had been negotiating with Schumer to speed up the nomination process this week, but the talks broke down.
‘Politically embattled Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, wants the Republicans to pay, as extortion, two billion dollars in order for the radical left Democrats to approve the hundreds of Trump appointments who have been waiting for months, and are raring to go,’ Trump wrote.
‘This has never happened before. There has never, in U.S. history, been such a delay. They are extortionists! Republicans must create legislation in order to get out of the grasp of these country-hating thugs. Move quickly!’ he added.
Lawmakers left Washington on Monday without a deal, leaving Republicans deeply frustrated with Schumer and Senate Democrats for their unprecedented filibustering of every one of Trump’s nominees. Only Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a smooth confirmation.
Schumer and the Democrats had demanded that Trump free up billions in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and foreign aid, accounting for Trump’s claims of a $2 billion ‘extortion.’
Republicans are now discussing a rule change that would block Democrats from filibustering the nominees, allowing them to clear the Senate with just a simple majority.
‘I think that way is going to happen anyways, because of what Schumer has done. He’s forced this, and it’s ridiculous that he’s doing this,’ Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Tuesday. ‘And so, whatever, we’re at this point, and we’ll do, you know what they say, every action requires an equal [reaction], and that’s what we’re at right now.’
Currently, over 1,200 positions go through Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have been able to confirm over 130 of Trump’s picks so far, but there are over 140 nominees still pending on the Senate’s calendar.
‘I think they’re desperately in need of change,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday. ‘I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.’
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report