Donald Trump on Wednesday ripped Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for his remarks criticizing Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, the two conservative Supreme Court justices nominated by the president.
Schumer, speaking at a rally with abortion rights advocates outside the court, said he wanted to tell Gorsuch and Kavanaugh that “you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”
“You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” he added.
Trump called Schumer’s comments a “direct & dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme court.”
“If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW!” Trump tweeted.
This is a direct & dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme Court by Schumer. If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW! https://t.co/WqQUbyzaJU
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Schumer’s remarks in a rare public statement, calling the senator’s comments “dangerous.”
Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement that the senator’s comments were “a reference to the political price Senate Republican will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.”
“For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes,” he said.
Trump said last week that Ginsburg and Sotomayor, two liberal justices, should recuse themselves from cases involving him or his administration.
