President Donald Trump predicted the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the outcome of the November election and argued the Senate should confirm his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to break any tie.
“I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices, and I think the system’s going to go very quickly,” Trump said Wednesday at the White House, after criticizing the legitimacy of mail-in voting. He made the remarks during a meeting with Republican attorneys general about alleged anti-conservative bias of tech companies.
“I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it’s a scam, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation,” Trump said. “Just in case it would be more political than it should be, I think it’s very important to have a ninth judge.”
Trump said Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would not have to even hold a committee hearing for his nominee, but he expects him to.
“He wouldn’t even actually have to hold one,” Trump said. “Lindsey is going to call the date of the hearing as soon – you can’t call it until you have a candidate. And once we have the nominee, I will wait to hear what the date is. But from that point, I would think it would be fairly quick.”
Lawyers representing Trump’s campaign are challenging mail-in voting rules in several states. The president has repeatedly claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud than in-person voting on Election Day.
Trump plans Saturday at 5 p.m. ET to announce a nominee to replace Ginsburg, a liberal icon who died Friday at 87. Trump said Wednesday he is still considering a list of five women. He is likely to nominate Amy Coney Barrett, people familiar with the deliberations have said.
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