Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Thursday that he opposes censuring Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer amid a controversy over comments the New York Democrat made about Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump, explained that his position on the issue is, in part, because Schumer walked back his remarks, but also because it could lead to Democrats attacking Trump.
“I don’t want to start censuring everybody,” the South Carolina Republican said, later adding, “If we start censuring him, they’re going to want to censure Trump, and this stuff never ends.”
Schumer, speaking at a rally of abortion rights supporters Wednesday at the Supreme Court, appeared to threaten Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, Trump’s two Supreme Court nominees who were confirmed after bruising nomination fights.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. 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,” Schumer said.
Schumer went on to say, “The bottom line is very simple: we will stand with the American people. We will stand with American women. We will tell President Trump and Senate Republicans, who have stacked the court with right-wing ideologues, that you’re gonna be gone in November and you will never be able to do what you’re trying to do now, ever, ever again. You hear that over there on the far-right? You’re gone in November.”
The remarks led to a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” Roberts said.
A number of Republicans in Congress have criticized Schumer’s remarks and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced a resolution to censure Schumer.
Schumer said on Thursday that he “should not have used the words” that he did in making the comments, but said that they were not a threat.
“I should not have used the words I used yesterday,” Schumer said. “They didn’t come out the way I intended to.”
“My point was that there would be political consequences, political consequences for President (Donald) Trump and Senate Republicans if the Supreme Court, with the newly confirmed justices, stripped away a woman’s right to choose,” he said.
Schumer did not appear to directly apologize, however, and instead accused Republicans of “gross distortion” and “manufacturing outrage.”
“Of course I didn’t intend to suggest anything other than political and public opinion consequences for the Supreme Court, and it is a gross distortion to imply otherwise. I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language. I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never, never would do such a thing. And Leader (Mitch) McConnell knows that. And Republicans who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that, too,” he said.
CNN’s Ariane de Vogue and Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.