A bipartisan group of about 10 senators thought they were going to a listening session Thursday with popular vote loser Donald Trump about his Supreme Court nominee. Not so much, writes Eli Stokols:
As soon as the door closed and the reporters allowed to observe for a few minutes had been ushered out, Trump began to talk about the election, participants said, triggered by the presence of former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who lost her reelection bid in November and is now working for Trump as a Capitol Hill liaison, or “Sherpa,” on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch.
The president claimed that he and Ayotte both would have been victorious in the Granite State if not for the “thousands” people who were “brought in on buses” from neighboring Massachusetts to “illegally” vote in New Hampshire.
Awkward. The room reportedly fell into an "uncomfortable silence." No worries—Trump made a nice recovery.
Trump also teased Ayotte, who distanced herself from him last summer after he attacked the parents of a Muslim Gold Star soldier for criticizing him during the Democratic Convention. “He told her, ‘You’d have won if you’d been on my train,’” one participant said.
During the meeting, Trump also reacted to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren being silenced on the Senate floor while trying to object to the nomination of former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general. According to participants in Thursday’s meeting, Trump referred to Warren several times as “Pocahontas,” the moniker he gave her during his campaign, and told the Democrats present he is glad Warren is becoming the face of “your party.”
Right back atchya, Donnie! Democratic senators are pretty glad you’ve become the face of the Republican Party.
No word yet on that massive voter fraud investigation Mike Pence is supposedly heading up for the Dons. Pence is pretty tied up right now with questions about whether he flat-out lied about Trump's ties to Russia on national television. Stay tuned.