{"id":1561240,"date":"2022-07-19T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561240"},"modified":"2022-07-19T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T17:04:36","slug":"sen-rand-paul-accuses-mcconnell-of-secret-deal-with-biden-admin-over-judge-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-rand-paul-accuses-mcconnell-of-secret-deal-with-biden-admin-over-judge-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Rand Paul Accuses McConnell of &#8220;Secret&#8221; Deal With Biden Admin Over Judge Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsen-rand-paul-accuses-mcconnell-of-secret-deal-with-biden-admin-over-judge-pick%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561240&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Kentucky\u2019s two Republican senators are trading blame for blowing up the prospective nomination of an anti-abortion attorney to the federal bench, with Sen. Rand Paul accusing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of forging a \u201csecret deal\u201d with the Biden administration. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMcConnell\u2019s to blame for tanking this because he tried to do it secretly [and] Democrats caught wind up in the state,\u201d Paul <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/18\/rand-lights-into-mcconnell-over-secret-judicial-deal-00046441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told reporters<\/a> Monday about the failed drive to nominate <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/07\/12\/biden-nominates-5-new-judges-but-not-republican-abortion-opponent\/\">Chad Meredith<\/a> as a district court judge in the Bluegrass State. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe never heard about it from McConnell\u2019s office,\u201d Paul added. \u201cAnd his people simply said, \u2018You can\u2019t do this but we can.\u2019 You know, \u2018We\u2019re so powerful, we can do whatever we want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/07\/15\/biden-abandons-plan-to-nominate-anti-abortion-judge-in-kentucky\/\">dropped its plans to nominate Meredith last week<\/a>, pinning the blame on Paul for declining to support him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn considering potential District Court nominees, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a blue slip on Chad Meredith,\u201d a White House spokesman said, referring to the practice of senators backing the nomination of judges from their home state. \u201cTherefore, the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell also pointed the finger at Paul, saying his opposition was \u201cjust utterly pointless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/Federal-Judgeship-Kentucky.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption>The White House dropped its plans to nominate Chad Meredith last week.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Ryan C. Hermens\/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe net result of this is it has prevented me from getting my kind of judge out of a liberal Democratic president,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/15\/us\/politics\/biden-mcconnell-judge-abortion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he told the New York Times<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell further insisted there \u201cwas no deal\u201d that Paul was being left out of the loop on, saying Biden\u2019s plan to nominate Meredith was \u201ca personal friendship gesture.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Democrats in Kentucky and Washington were outraged by reports that the White House planned to nominate Meredith, and their fury grew after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courier-journal.com\/story\/news\/politics\/mitch-mcconnell\/2022\/07\/05\/beshear-turns-over-privileged-emails-chad-meredith-nomination\/7816042001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">leaked emails published by the Louisville Courier-Journal<\/a> earlier this month indicated that Biden had planned to announce the nomination on June 24 \u2014 the day the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/06\/24\/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade\/\">Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade<\/a>. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/rand-mccdonnell-23.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rand-mccdonnell-23.jpg\" alt=\"Rand Paul.\" class=\"wp-image-23110662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/rand-mccdonnell-23.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/rand-mccdonnell-23.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/rand-mccdonnell-23.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The White House cited Sen. Rand Paul\u2019s refusal to back Chad Meredith as the reason for dropping the nomination.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Al Drago\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters he had asked the White House what concession McConnell had promised in exchange for Biden nominating Meredith.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t have a specific answer,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/minutes\/congress\/07-11-2022\/noncommittal-on-meredith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he told Politico<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, McConnell mused to the Times that Paul may have thought it was his turn to nominate a candidate for the federal bench. But as the minority leader put it: \u201cThe president would not have been taking a recommendation from Rand Paul, I can assure you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell\u2019s office did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite failing to return a blue slip for Meredith\u2019s nomination, Paul indicated on Monday that he would have supported his confirmation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no reason to be opposed to Chad Meredith, other than we want at least the courtesy of \u2026 the minority leader thinking that he\u2019s not so important that he doesn\u2019t have to talk to his fellow state senator,\u201d Paul told reporters. \u201cThe left ended up hating it, but also even his colleagues \u2014 myself \u2014 weren\u2019t too happy about him doing it without having any discussion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, one source told Politico that McConnell\u2019s and Paul\u2019s offices had discussed the Meredith nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had conversations for months about this on the staff level,\u201d the person told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSenators are together a lot, there\u2019s no lack of access between any senators, certainly senators of the same party,\u201d the person added. \u201cThe conservative base does not care about an inside-the-Beltway process argument. They would like a Federalist Society rock star in a lifetime judicial seat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kentucky\u2019s two Republican senators are trading blame for blowing up the prospective nomination of an anti-abortion attorney to the federal bench, with Sen. Rand Paul accusing Minority Leader<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1574500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1561240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1574500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}