ACB is the new RBG, Trump says

A ‘natural fit’ at ‘the right time’

President Trump says Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a “natural fit” to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — and that he and his Supreme Court nominee did not discuss the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion ruling during meetings at the White House.

“And I just felt that this was the right time,” the president said in an interview that aired Sunday on “Fox & Friends.”

“But when this happened with Justice Ginsburg, when this happened . . . this just seemed like a natural fit,” he continued.

Host Pete Hegseth asked Trump whether he and Barrett talked about any specific court cases before announcing his intention to make her his third nominee to the high court.

“No, specifically, I didn’t do that because in theory you, it’s nicer if you don’t . . . You can talk about anything you want, but I just really got to know a little bit. And when this was happening, in the process of happening, I called her and I said, I’d like to have you come down,” the president replied.

“I didn’t discuss certain concepts and certain things. If some people say you shouldn’t — I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t — but I decided not to do it. And I think it gives her freedom to do what she has to do. She has to make rulings. But I think she’s going to make a lot of people very proud,” the president said.

Trump was asked if he personally would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned in light of Barrett being the third conservative he has nominated to the court along with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

“So I didn’t think it was for me to discuss that with her. Because it’s something she’s going to be ruling on and this is what I was told — although I would have had the right to do that,” the president responded.

“But if you look at her, her past actions, rulings, I guess she maybe would be in the category that you mentioned, I don’t know, I can say this that she is certainly conservative in her views and her rulings. And we’ll have to see how that all works out,” he said.

If Barrett is confirmed by the Senate, conservatives would have a 6-3 advantage on the court following the death of Ginsburg (inset) more than a week ago at 87. Hegseth asked Trump if he thought the Supreme Court would have a chance to rule on a “life issue.”

“It’s certainly possible and maybe they do it in a different way,” Trump said.

“Maybe they give it back to the states. You just don’t know what’s going to happen,” the president said, adding that he’s been surprised by “some of the rulings we’ve already had over the last year.”

Meanwhile Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that an escalated timeline for Barrett will allow for a vote before Halloween.

“So we’ll start on Oct. 12, and more than half of the Supreme Court justices who have had hearings were done within 16 days or less,” Graham said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“We’ll have a day of introduction. We’ll have two days of questioning, Tuesday and Wednesday, and on the 15th we’ll begin to markup, we’ll hold it over for a week, and we’ll report her nomination out of the committee on Oct. 22.”

At that point, the Republican from South Carolina said, it would be up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “as to what to do with the nomination once it comes out of committee.”