Outgoing Senator Jeff Flake stood up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday saying he won’t vote to confirm any of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees until a bi-partisan bill to protect Robert Mueller goes up for a vote. The Associated Press reports:
Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware went to the Senate floor on Wednesday and tried to bring the legislation up for a vote. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected. McConnell has said that the legislation is unnecessary because he believes Mueller won’t be fired.
On the Senate floor Flake said:
“With the firing of the Attorney General and in my view the improper installation of an acting attorney general who has not been subject to confirmation by this body, the President now has this investigation in his sights and we all know it.”
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has vowed to block Trump’s judicial nominees if the Senate will not pass bipartisan legislation to protect Robert Mueller’s investigation pic.twitter.com/iELJlYxuwO
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 14, 2018
CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin doesn’t seem to think that Flake will keep his word though saying:
“Is there anything more empty in American politics than a threat from Jeff Flake? who has made his entire career by folding every time Mitch McConnell breathes hard. I mean, Mitch McConnell is going to squash Jeff Flake like a bug, as he always does.”
If Flake were to keep his word he would need at least one more Republican senator to join him. It doesn’t look like that Senator will be Susan Collins.
https://twitter.com/joanwalsh/status/1062818429072220170