The White House is bustling to get ready for Donald Trump's big Supreme Court announcement on July 9, writes Politico.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that the selection and confirmation process will be led by White House counsel Don McGahn, who will team up with deputy press secretary Raj Shah.
The Justice Department and White House counsel's office are dedicating "teams of attorneys" to making sure Trump has "all the information he needs," Sanders added. In addition, the director of the Office of Public Liaison, Justin Clark, is coordinating with conservative groups on the nomination.
So far, Trump has spoken to four nominees. It's a break-neck pace because meeting Trump's deadline is apparently more important than making sure he has the right person for the job.
White House officials declined to say which potential judicial nominees Mr. Trump talked with Monday morning, but the short list of candidates is believed to include six federal appeals court judges: Thomas M. Hardiman, William H. Pryor Jr., Amul R. Thapar, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Joan L. Larsen and Amy Coney Barrett.
Trump has been pretty giddy about the whole thing, telling reporters Monday he had a "very, very interesting morning" and tagging his potential picks as "outstanding people."
The mobilization looks to be about as coordinated as Trump’s usually-flailing White House gets, which lends some insight into just how important this nomination is to Trump. Certainly, he’s hoping that it distracts people from his deeply unpopular policy of child stealing at the border, and his escalating trade war with the entire world.