Barrett says Trump offered her Supreme Court nomination 3 days after Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for September 30

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on foxnews.1eye.us.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said in a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire that President Trump offered her the nomination to the seat vacated by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Monday, Sept. 21, which is just three days after Ginsburg died and nearly a full week before Trump officially announced the nomination.

Barrett submitted the questionnaire, which is standard procedure for judicial nominees ahead of their committee hearings, on Monday. As part of the questionnaire, Barrett was asked to describe her selection process, including her contacts with the president and others in the White House or Justice Department. She said she first received a call from the White House on Sept. 19, the day after Ginsburg died.

"On Saturday, September 19, 2020, Counsel to the President Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called me about the vacancy. On Sunday, September 20, 2020, I spoke to Mr. Cipollone and Chief of Staff Meadows again, who invited me to come to Washington, and President Trump later called to confirm the invitation," Barrett said.

Video

AMY CONEY BARRETT'S 65-PAGE RESPONSE TO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE QUESTIONNAIRE RELEASED

She continued: "I had meetings with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Mr. Cipollone, and Chief of Staff Meadows in Washington on Monday, September 21, 2020. The President offered me the nomination on that day, and I accepted, subject to finalizing the vetting process."

The notation on the questionnaire is significant because throughout the week following Sept. 21 Trump signaled that he was still undecided on who he would select for the Supreme Court vacancy, saying he was considering five women.

Last Thursday, Trump praised Barrett during an interview on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" on Fox News Radio but in response to a question from Kilmeade on what it would take for the nominee to not be Barrett -- who was widely considered the frontrunner for the vacancy -- Trump shot back, "you don't know it's her."

The president said repeatedly that he was waiting, out of respect, to announce his nominee until memorial services for Ginsburg had wrapped.

The questionnaire also includes Barrett's employment history, circumstances in which she says she would recuse herself from cases and other details about her work as a lawyer, professor and judge. It will be one of a vast trove of documents being sifted through, including opinions, law review articles and more, that Senate Judiciary Committee members will rely on when grilling the judge during hearings set to start on Oct. 12.

Video

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Republicans have said they intend to have a roll call vote to officially confirm Barrett by the end of October. Democrats have said they will resist her nomination every step of the way, accusing Republicans of hypocrisy for moving ahead with the nomination just weeks before a presidential election when they held open the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia for months ahead of the 2016 election.

Republicans argue that Senate precedent shows when the Senate and White House are controlled by the same party Supreme Court nominees generally are confirmed during election years. And Trump Tuesday night said that the GOP has every right to move ahead with the process because "elections have consequences."

"I will tell you very simply, we won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate, we have the White House, and we have a phenomenal nominee," Trump told moderator Chirs Wallace. "They had [Obama nominee] Merrick Garland [in 2016]. But the problem is they didn't have the election, so they were stopped."

Republicans appear to have the votes to confirm Barrett barring unexpected defections.