WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has told President Donald Trump it would be cataclysmic to fill the Supreme Court vacancy with someone who opposes the right to abortion or the 2010 health care law.
That’s according to a person familiar with a phone call he says Trump placed Tuesday to discuss the opening.
The person says the New York Democrat told Trump such a nominee would be tremendously divisive and hurt Trump’s legacy. The person also says it didn’t seem Trump was seriously soliciting Schumer’s advice since the president was already winnowing potential nominees.
The person says Schumer told Trump he could unify the country by nominating Merrick Garland. Republicans blocked Garland’s 2016 nomination by then President Barack Obama.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the conversation publicly.
