Trump SCOTUS pick should be grilled about Mueller probe 'before their rear end hits the chair,'...

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Trump SCOTUS pick should be grilled about Mueller probe 'before their rear end hits the chair,' says top Dem strategist

Michael IsikoffChief Investigative Correspondent,Yahoo News•June 29, 2018

A senior Democratic strategist says that the first question for President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court — “before their rear end hits the chair” — should be whether he or she was required to pledge loyalty to the president on key issues related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Ron Klain, who has helped coordinate Democratic party strategy through multiple Supreme Court battles, said on the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery that Senate Democrats should seek to smoke out the nominee’s views on questions central to the future of the Mueller probe. Among them: whether the president can be indicted, whether he can be forced to testify under subpoena and whether he can pardon himself.

“The very first question this nominee should be asked before their rear end really hits the chair … should be, ‘Did anyone in the administration, did the president, did anyone in the administration ask you your views on these questions?” Klain said. “[Did anyone] ask you your views on Mueller’s jurisdiction or the exemption of the president from potentially being indicted while sitting or the definition of obstruction of justice or anything related?”

Klain, who served as chief of staff to Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Al Gore and was once chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, acknowledged that there were “accepted historical dodges” for Supreme Court nominees when responding to politically contentious questions. Typically, the nominee will say that they can’t respond to hypothetical questions about an issue that might come before the court.

But Democratic senators can pin the nominee down with sharply crafted “fact” questions, Klain said before offering examples: “Were you asked about this in the vetting process? Did you offer a view on this in the vetting process?” That, Klain said, “is not a question the nominee has a right to resist. And that should be question No. 1 here.”

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/mueller-probe-loyalty-pledge-will-key-confirmation-hearings-top-dem-strategist-says-132428991.html