Trump declares remarks by his court pick skewed

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that comments by his Supreme Court nominee criticizing Trump's attacks on the judiciary were "misrepresented," even as Republican and Democratic lawmakers vouched for the veracity of the remarks.

Trump responded after Judge Neil Gorsuch said in meetings with lawmakers Wednesday that the president's comments about federal judges were "disheartening."

Gorsuch, who was nominated by Trump last week to the nation's highest court, made the comments in meetings with senators after Trump accused an appeals court panel considering his immigration and refugee executive order of being "so political."

Over the weekend, Trump labeled a judge who ruled on his executive order a "so-called judge" and referred to the ruling as "ridiculous."

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Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut first relayed Gorsuch's remarks Wednesday after a meeting with him. Trump's own confirmation team for Gorsuch later confirmed that Gorsuch had made the remarks.

But Trump said during a Thursday luncheon with senators that Blumenthal had misrepresented Gorsuch. "His comments were misrepresented. And what you should do is ask Sen. Blumenthal about his Vietnam record that didn't exist after years of saying it did," he said.

Blumenthal, who served in the Marine Corps Reserves during Vietnam War-era, apologized in 2010 for saying he had served in Vietnam.

The president made the comments while making the case for Gorsuch during the luncheon with 10 senators, including six of Blumenthal's fellow Democrats.

Blumenthal, a former state attorney general, said Thursday that Gorsuch needed to go further and publicly denounce Trump's verbal assault on judicial independence.

"He needs to condemn Donald Trump's attacks publicly, and it needs to be much stronger, more explicit and direct than has been done so far," Blumenthal said. "Unless it is done publicly in a clear condemnation, it will not establish his independence."

Lawmakers from both parties quickly vouched for the veracity of Blumenthal's account of Gorsuch's remarks. GOP former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is helping with Gorsuch's confirmation and was at the meeting, issued a statement saying Gorsuch made clear that he was not referring to any specific case. But she said the nominee said he finds any criticism of a judge's integrity and independence to be "disheartening and demoralizing."

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., confirmed that Gorsuch made the same comments to them.

Sasse told MSNBC's Morning Joe, "Frankly, he got pretty passionate about it." He added that Gorsuch said any attack on the "brothers or sisters of the robe is an attack on all judges."

Fellow Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy went to Blumenthal's defense Thursday. He wrote in a tweet directed at Trump: "Ha! As a prosecutor, Dick used to put guys like u in jail. Now, u use your position to mock vets, he uses his to make their lives better."

Meanwhile, Trump signed three executive actions Thursday designed to crack down on violence in America, directing the Department of Justice to take "all necessary action and lawful action to break the back of the criminal cartels" and to form task forces focused on reducing violent crime and crime against police.

As his new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was being sworn in Thursday, Trump said he was signing the executive actions to "restore safety in America."

In his own remarks, Sessions said America has "a crime problem," and it is no mere anomaly.

"I wish the rise that we are seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or a blip," he said. "My best judgment, having been involved in criminal law enforcement for many years, is that this is a dangerous, permanent trend that places the health and safety of the American people at risk. We will deploy the talents and abilities of the Department of Justice in the most effective way possible to confront this rise in crime and to protect the people of our country."

The latest FBI data show a more than 10 percent increase in murder and non-negligent manslaughter from 2014 to 2015. But the murder rate is down even from as recently as 2009, and it has been declining -- with a few upward blips -- since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.

Other Cabinet picks

In the Capitol on Thursday, Republicans continued pushing Trump's remaining Cabinet picks toward confirmation. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., seemed certain to win confirmation to head the Health and Human Services Department by a mostly party-line vote. Price is the latest nominee to enter the partisan battle over Trump's Cabinet.

Republicans see the conservative seven-term House member and orthopedic surgeon as a knowledgeable leader who will help scuttle President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Democrats describe him as an ideologue who has a shady history of trading health care stocks and whose policies will snatch insurance coverage from Americans.

"He seems to have no higher priority than to terminate health coverage for millions of people," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. She said his preference for limiting women's access to free birth control is "not only wrong, it's arrogant."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Price, 62, "knows more about health care policy than just about anyone." He said Price would help "bring stability to health care markets that Obamacare has harmed."

Price's nomination is part of a larger debate in which Republicans want to quickly enact priorities long blocked by Obama. Democrats, with few tools as Congress' minority, are trying to impede them and have stretched some floor debates to the maximum 30 hours that Senate rules allow.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, accused Democrats of opposing Trump's nominees with "apocalyptic visions of a future world gone mad." He said he wondered how Democrats kept "their outrage settings turned to 11 without getting completely exhausted."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Trump was shaping a Cabinet that "benefits those at the top and their allies, but really hurts the workers and families."

Democrats have accused Price of lying about his acquisition of discounted shares of an Australian biotech company and benefiting from insider information. They've also attacked him for buying stock in a medical implant maker and pushing legislation to help the company.

Price has said he's done nothing wrong. It's illegal for members of Congress to engage in insider trading.

The Senate has approved the previous three consecutive Cabinet nominees along mostly party lines.

After Price, Treasury nominee Steven Mnuchin, a financier, is next in line for Senate votes.

Also under scrutiny is fast-food executive Andy Puzder, the pick for labor secretary.

Schumer, the Senate minority leader, on Thursday called for Trump to withdraw Puzder's nomination, calling him "probably the most anti-worker" choice ever for the Cabinet position.

"On policy and practice, Andrew Puzder has proven himself to be an enemy, not a champion, of workers' rights," Schumer told reporters. "They ought to withdraw Puzder's [nomination] before he further embarrasses this administration and further exposes the hypocrisy of President Trump saying one thing to the workers of America and then doing another."

In paperwork given to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Puzder pledged to divest his multimillion-dollar stake in Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Restaurants, which owns the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains, and sell a wide array of other investments.

Puzder also promised not to participate in any matters as labor secretary involving CKE Restaurants unless he received a waiver or authorization in conjunction with federal law.

His confirmation hearing, which has been delayed four times, is set for next Thursday.

Information for this article was contributed by Vivian Salama, Ken Thomas, Catherine Lucey, Alan Fram, Alicia Caldwell and Kevin Freking of The Associated Press; by Matt Zapotosky of The Washington Post; and by Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times.

A Section on 02/10/2017