'One of the most ridiculous statements': Senator's comment leaves colleague in disbelief
A Democratic senator went after questionable comments Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) made Thursday in which he suggested it wasn't his party’s responsibility – but Donald Trump’s – to vet his cabinet picks.
“Donald Trump did all the vetting they needed to do on Pete Hegseth, and I just can’t believe we even have people on our side who are saying, ‘Well I’ve gotta look at this, gotta look at that,’” Tuberville, a staunch Trump ally, told CNN’s Manu Raju earlier on Thursday. “What they’re doing is they’re throwing rocks at Donald Trump, they're not throwing them at Pete Hegseth…that’s not our job to do that, that’s the Democrats.”
The moment appeared to stump Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who was asked his thoughts on the remarks during an interview on CNN’s “The Source.”
“I don’t say this lightly about a colleague but that is one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve ever seen or heard,” Blumenthal said Thursday. “And the reason is quite simply, the Constitution does beg to differ.”
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The Connecticut senator, who sits on the judiciary committee, continued to pile on to Tuberville’s eyebrow-raising stance, adding that one of their responsibilities as senators is to engage in “advice and consent” of every nominee made by a president.
He added: “We take an oath not to a president, but to the Constitution, and I think that any senator who says I’m just going to vote in favor of whoever the president sends up because the president has vetted him enough, is really violating their oath of office.”
Blumenthal also noted that Trump has foregone the traditional FBI background investigations of his nominees, but called on the committee to “insist on it.”
Watch the clip below or at this link.