Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) bristled at President Donald Trump‘s calls to abandon a bipartisan tradition on judicial nominees, saying he was “offended” by a string of social media posts targeting his leadership.
“Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans,” Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said as he began a hearing on Wednesday morning.
“I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults,” he added.
A day earlier, Trump urged Grassley to have the “courage” to break the practice of “blue slips,” which gives home-state senators veto power over nominees for lower-level judgeships and U.S. attorneys.
Trump reposted accounts amplifying Grassley’s five-decade “reign” in Congress, with one Truth Social post calling to “dethrone the kings” as it lumped Grassley, 91, in with other long-serving lawmakers.
Grassley has resisted pressure to eliminate blue slips this Congress, and on Tuesday shrugged at the first of the posts, though Grassley did weaken the practice in Trump’s first term, exempting higher-level circuit court nominees to help Republicans expand their influence on the federal bench.
Now, Trump wants the practice, one of the few remaining areas of bipartisan cooperation, to go altogether. In his Tuesday post, Trump said that Grassley should “not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective.”
A Grassley spokesperson highlighted two U.S. attorney nominees who received blue slips from Democratic senators in Virginia and Minnesota, adding that support on the floor is, in part, predicated on buy-in from home-state senators.
“When a nominee comes out of committee all 100 senators have a say on the nomination and part of their consideration is based on the home state senators’ input,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The pressure campaign comes as Trump takes steps to circumvent the blue slip process with interim appointments.
The administration moved to keep Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey after the state’s Democratic senators declined to return blue slips, sparking a legal challenge now playing out in court.
Trump has also used the tactic to get around Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) objections to a pair of U.S. attorney nominees in New York.
Those objections are part of a larger campaign by Democrats to stall or block hundreds of Trump’s nominees, none of whom have received a voice vote or unanimous consent on the Senate floor.
The blockade has prompted Republicans to consider rules changes to speed up debate time or shrink the list of nominees who must receive Senate approval. Republicans even entertained the idea of allowing Trump to install his choices using recess appointments at a Tuesday lunch, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) downplayed the idea.
In the fight over blue slips, Grassley is receiving support from members of the Judiciary Committee and GOP leadership. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) told reporters that he supports Grassley as chairman, while Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a committee member, publicly asked Trump to drop the feud.
“I say this to the president with respect, Mr. President, pretty please, with sugar on top, back off this, because I don’t think the Senate is going to go along, and I think it’s just a needless fight.”
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On Grassley’s fitness, Kennedy quipped that he’s “tough as a boot, he’s sharp as a tack.”
“I’ve said this before — when the apocalypse comes and hell freezes over, there’s going to be two things left, Chuck Grassley and cockroaches,” Kennedy said.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.