The Democrat who called Trump an ‘existential threat to democracy’ is now blocking his candidates
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., derailed plans by Senate Republicans to quickly confirm the president Donald Trump national security nominee Tuesday night when he argued against bypassing lengthy procedural votes that are routinely skipped.
“Unfortunately, we were at the point of close agreement to vote tomorrow on the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to be CIA director. Not today, not yesterday, when that should have happened, but tomorrow,” Senate Republican Conference President Tom CottonR-Ark., said on the chamber floor. “But the senator from Connecticut decided to oppose it at the last minute.”
“Actually, I don’t understand the objection Mr. Ratcliffe. The Senate confirmed him as Director of National Intelligence. He was fully vetted through a bipartisan process in the Senate Intelligence Committee. We passed it yesterday by a vote of 14 to 3,” continued Cotton, also chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Thune told senators they can confirm nominations the easy way or the hard way. (Reuters)
During his objection, Murphy said there were “serious concerns” from some Democrats about Trump’s CIA pick, John Ratcliffe. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask to ensure a full, real debate that will last two days in the Senate,” he said.
The Connecticut Democrat specifically foreshadowed Trump’s eventual second presidency over the summer. “There’s a lot of angst in the country and abroad today, and that’s because the stakes are so high,” he said.
“This is because Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy. He advertised that he would turn this country from a democracy to a dictatorship,” he asserted in a July guest appearance on CNN.
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Cotton chairs the intelligence committee. (Getty Images)
Murphy’s objection Tuesday night to speeding up routine procedural votes is the first instance of Democrats using a strategy used by Republicans when they were the Senate minority to gain an advantage in negotiations.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., expressed his frustration with the objection on the floor, saying, “Okay, so 14 to 3 is coming out of committee. And now we’ve lost a whole day of where we could have been acting on that nomination .”
“And so really, I think the question before the House of Representatives is, do we want a vote on these people on Tuesday or a vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do,” he said, threatening weekend votes in the upper house. .
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Ratcliffe is Trump’s choice to head the CIA. (Getty Images)
“This can be easy or this can be hard.”
Murphy hinted at this kind of defiance while speaking to reporters last week.
“I think the Republicans have changed the rules here in the last two years,” he said. “They used extraordinary powers to block appointees and prolong any process.”
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Murphy hinted at the move last week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“The rules are different now, they have changed the way the Senate works,” he repeated.
Thune took the necessary actions to tie the possible votes for Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense Pete Hegseth and his pick for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Since there is no deal with Democrats to limit debate and bypass certain procedural votes, the nominations will not mature for confirmation votes until a day later.
