GOP rep blames Dems for Trump’s comments
WASHINGTON — Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R- Peters, on Friday blamed Democrats who he believes have interfered with President Donald Trump’s administration and want to politicize the courts.
This comes in the wake of Mr. Trump’s comments earlier this week saying he may not support the results of the Nov. 3 election, claiming that there will be widespread voter fraud with mail- in ballots.
Mr. Reschenthaler argued it was the Senate’s precedent and constitutional duty to fill the vacant seat left by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Reports Friday said Mr. Trump would nominate Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday.
The president’s remarks about the upcoming election — fueling expectations of drawn- out legal disputes over the result — is “ever more the reason” for Mr. Trump to fill the judicial seat so the Supreme Court can determ i n e t h e o u t c o m e , M r . Reschenthaler said.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump told reporters the “ballots are a disaster” and that “we want to get rid of the ballots.”
“We’re going to have to see what happens,” Mr. Trump said in the White House press briefing room. “There won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anyone else.”
The president’s comments led many congressional Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., to issue statements reassuring Americans that political leaders would, indeed, respect the peaceful transition of power.
Sen. Susan Collins, RMaine, who is facing the toughest re- election battle of her career, was the only senator to directly refer to Mr. Trump.
“I don’t know what his thinking was,” she said, “but we have always had a peaceful transition between administrations.
“The peaceful transfer of power is a fundamental tenet of our democracy,” Ms. Collins added. “And I am confident that we will see it occur once again.”
On Friday, Mr. Reschenthaler offered no such statement.
“I’m not sure where this is coming from,” he said when asked about Mr. Trump’s comments this week. “I do know Hillary Clinton has made some dangerous remarks.
“To the extent I’m worried about the peaceful transition of power, I worry about it solely coming from the left and the new Democrat party,” he said. Mr. Reschenthaler was referring to Mrs. Clinton’s interview in August on Showtime’s “The Circus.” Mrs. Clinton, after saying she believes Mr. Trump may be targeting absentee ballots to discredit the election outcome, advised that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “not concede” because “this is going to drag out.” “Eventually, I do believe [ Mr. Biden] will win if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,” Mrs. Clinton said in the interview.
Mr. Reschenthaler said he was “troubled solely by the rhetoric that I see coming from the left and coming from Democrat leaders.”
He also brought up former FBI Director James Comey’s prosecution of Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, who resigned after serving the first 22 days of his administration. In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his calls with Russia’s then- ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
This year, Attorney General William Barr made the decision to abandon the prosecution, which Republicans had sought to portray as politically motivated.
Mr. Reschenthaler argued that the FBI tried to “entrap” Flynn and that “a peaceful transition of power was interrupted by a weaponized and politicized FBI.”
Mr. Reschenthaler joined Rep. John Joyce, RBlair; Rep. Fred Keller, RSnyder; and Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas to express support for Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Republicans have claimed Democrats want to make the courts ideological, while seeking to portray Republican- nominated justices as neutral.
than “Now, ever, perhaps elections more have consequences,” Mr. Joyce said. “We know that the balance of the Supreme Court — and, with it, the values of our nation — are on the line in this election.”
Mr. Biden, a moderate, is “clearing the way for extremists to dismantle the American justice system,” he added.
On Th ursday , Mr. Reschenthaler and Mr. Joyce joined other congressional Republicans from Pennsylvania on a letter that pressed Sen. Bob Casey, D- Pa., to support the president’s nominee.
The letter pointed to Mr. Casey’s demand in 2016 that the Senate approve Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. The Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider Judge Garland and let the vacancy sit for nearly a year before Mr. Trump took office in 2017.
Trump’s Mr. refusal Keller of nominee duty” to called approve — a Mr. “dereliction even Mr. Casey’s though senators almost all refused Republican to meet with Mr. Garland in 2016, saying the chamber’s “advise and consent” aut hority allowed them refuse to take up the nominee of an opposing party.
Senators argued at that time American voters should have a say in the next Supreme Court justice.