‘I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never—never—would do such a thing…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Senate Minority Leaders Charles Schumer, D-NY, facing a wave of criticism over threats he made to two Supreme Court justices, attempted to do damage control on the Senate floor Thursday, but stopped short of apologizing.
Schumer drew a sharp rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts and many others after telling justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the steps of the Supreme Court Wednesday that they “have released the whirlwind and will pay the price” if they seek to overturn existing abortion laws.
But Schumer excused his behavior by claiming it was the result of his blunt rhetorical style and his passion for abortion. “I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language,” he said.
His speech followed a searing criticism from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
“There is nothing to call this except a threat,” McConnell said, according to Fox News.
Not only did Schumer avoid taking personal responsibility by denying that it was a threat, though, he immediately sought to deflect criticism back onto his Republican opponents for rebuking him.
“I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat,” Schumer claimed.
“I never—never—would do such a thing,” he continued. “And Leader McConnell knows that. And Republicans who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that too.”
Contrary to those claims, Schumer has garnered a reputation for making coercive threats, as well as using every available opportunity to hammer away at his radical agenda.
Chuck Schumer is an atrocity. He’s a truly awful human being in every respect and his depravity knows no end. Anyone who paid attention to NY politics in the 90s & later can tell you what a zero Schumer is.
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) March 5, 2020
Partisan Congressional Democrats already have made veiled threats against Kavanaugh in the past.
Even after unsubstantiated rape allegations surfaced in his 2018 confirmation hearing, resulting in a nation-rending smear campaign and FBI investigation that yielded no corroborating evidence, some have insisted Kavanaugh is guilty and have called for his impeachment.
Likewise, during President Donald Trump’s partisan impeachment trial, Schumer routinely held press conferences in which he rehashed talking points that claimed Republicans were corrupting the process by seeking a quick dismissal without hearing additional witnesses that the House had failed to subpoena.
“This is not the first time Chuck Schumer has tried to intimidate someone,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of Trump’s strongest congressional allies, according to Fox News.
“It didn’t work with President Trump,” Jordan continued. “I don’t think it’s going to work with Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh, but it’s still wrong—you don’t do those kinds of things.”
The president responded to Schumer’s attack on the judiciary by drawing a parallel of his own with the Left’s impeachment shenanigans.
During a phone call with Sean Hannity, Trump likened the situation to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., falsifying the transcript of an Oval Office phone call with the Ukrainian president, Fox News reported.
But while Schiff’s remarks on the House floor were immune from prosecution, Trump said Schumer’s public threats and incitement of violence were not protected speech.
There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices. This is what Chuck Schumer just did. He must pay a severe price for this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
Many others on the Right called on Schumer to issue an outright apology for the comments.
Schumer cannot give himself a pass because “he’s from Brooklyn.” He owes Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh an apology. He would demand no less if a GOP Senator attacked a liberal justice with those same words. 4/5
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) March 5, 2020
Some went even farther, as in a Fox News op-ed by Committee for Justice President Curt Levey suggesting that Schumer be censured by the Senate.
Levey also was one of several to note that Schumer’s threat, far from being a frenzied fit of passion, seemed a calculated effort to target the court’s newest justices with an intimidation campaign that built on the Left’s past efforts to delegitimize the high court itself.
“It is telling that he didn’t mention [conservative] Justices [Clarence ]Thomas and [Samuel] Alito, who—unlike Trump appointees Gorsuch and Kavanaugh—have an actual record in abortion cases and are at least as likely to uphold abortion restrictions,” he wrote. “It reveals that what Schumer is really livid about is that Trump’s election allowed him to appoint justices in the first place.”