Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed he had a serious conversation with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the California senator who recently found herself dealing with backlash from the Left for thanking Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham (R-SC) on how he ran the Supreme Court nomination hearings last week.
“I’ve had a long and serious talk with Senator Feinstein, and that’s all I’m going to say about it right now,” said Schumer, after he was asked Tuesday whether he plans to make changes to the judiciary committee, of which Feinstein is the highest ranking Democrat.
Prior to the hearings, Politico reported that several Democratic senators were worried about how Feinstein would perform in the hearings.
“She’s not sure what she’s doing,” a Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Politico. “If you take a look at Kavanaugh, we may be short two senators because of that. And if this gets [messed] up, it may be the same result.”
“She can’t pull this off,” said another Democratic senator, while yet another reportedly told Politico that the Democratic leadership was in “an impossible position” because it would be bad political optics to replace her ahead of the nomination hearings.
Now that the public hearings have ended, Feinstein has been receiving heavy degrees of scorn from the Left, including from some progressive groups that have demanded she step down from her leadership role on the judiciary committee.
“Americans—whose lives hang in the balance—deserve leadership that underscores how unprecedented, shameful, and wrong this process is,” said the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a pro-abortion group that has given Feinstein a 100% congressional scorecard rating. “The Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, failed to make this clear and in fact offered an appearance of credibility to the proceedings that is wildly out of step with the American people. As such, we believe the committee needs new leadership.”
This is not normal, these hearings are not legitimate. Dianne Feinstein gave credibility to the process when the majority of Americans have been clear that they want to choose the next president—and the next president should fill the vacancy. The committee needs new leadership. pic.twitter.com/Szaxb2S6Wh
— NARAL (@NARAL) October 16, 2020
“This was a moment for all Democrats to fight and instead [Senator Feinstein] cozied up with Lindsey Graham & undermined her own Democratic colleagues. She needs to step down from her role on the Judiciary Committee now. We need fierce leadership for the fights ahead,” tweeted MoveOn.
This was a moment for all Democrats to fight and instead @SenFeinstein cozied up with Lindsey Graham & undermined her own Democratic colleagues. She needs to step down from her role on the Judiciary Committee now. We need fierce leadership for the fights ahead. https://t.co/XemuDOB0SE
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) October 15, 2020
Related: Report: Dianne Feinstein Elementary On List Of ‘Inappropriate’ School Names, May Be Changed
