President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden kicked off Tuesday night’s debate by answering why they think they’re right about the pending Supreme Court nomination.
“We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House. And we have a phenomenal nominee,” Trump said from Cleveland, Ohio, where he, Biden, and moderator Chris Wallace had gathered with dozens of audience members.
Trump said that nominee Amy Coney Barrett is “good in every way.”
“In fact, some of her biggest endorsers are very liberal people, from Notre Dame and other places. So I think she’s going to be fantastic. We have plenty of time. Even if we did it after the election itself. I have a lot of time after the election,” he said, adding later: “She’s going to be as good as anybody who has served on that court.”
Trump alleged that Democrats would do the exact same thing if they held both the Senate and the White House when a Supreme Court vacancy arose.
Biden argued that Trump’s nominee should not be confirmed until the public sees whether Trump won a second term or lost to him.
“The American people have a right to have a say in who the Supreme Court nominee is,” he said, adding later: “We should wait and see what the outcome of this election is.”
Biden said during the debate that he feared the Affordable Care Act will be struck down by the nation’s highest court in November.
Trump later rejoined that even late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at one point argued in favor of a nominee being confirmed in election years.
“I’m not elected for three years,” he said. “I’m elected for four years.”
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