Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not support President Barack Obama’s plan to announce a Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“I think the next president should make the pick. And I think they shouldn’t go forward. And I believe I’m pretty much in line with what the Republicans are saying,” Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday on “New Day.”
Obama told supporters in an email Wednesday morning he will name his pick to replace Scalia at 11 a.m.
“Today, I will announce the person whom I believe is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court,” Obama wrote in the email, which did not name his nominee. “As President, it is both my constitutional duty to nominate a justice and one of the most important decisions that I — or any president — will make.”
Before Obama’s pick was known — indeed, nearly as soon as Scalia had died — Republicans expressed staunch refusal to consider Obama’s nominee, insisting that his replacement make a determination on who would fill the vacant seat.
“I think that the next president should make the pick. We don’t have a very long distance to wait. Certainly they could wait it out very easily,” Trump said Wednesday. “I would be not in favor of going forward.”
“No matter what? What if he picks your sister,” Cuomo asked, referring to Maryanne Trump Barry, a senior judge the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“Then I would say the same thing,” Trump said. “My sister’s very happy where she is. She’s doing a great job. She’s considered a brilliant person and she is,” Trump said.