Republicans just learned an important lesson about Chuck Schumer: Either he’s not as powerful as he thought he’d be as Senate minority leader, or he can’t be trusted. Or both.
At issue is a deal Senate Republicans thought they had with Schumer to confirm Mike Pompeo as CIA director by voice vote on Inauguration Day in exchange for delaying the original vote by one day.
But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) refused to go along (or to explain why). When Schumer backed him, angry words ensued.
According to The Weekly Standard, Schumer first defended the delay by saying no previous CIA director had been confirmed on Inauguration Day. Then he claimed he’d only promised not to block Pompeo personally, adding: “I don’t control my whole caucus. I never said I could speak for 47 other Democrats.”
To which Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) reportedly replied: “You made the deal!”
At one point, Schumer condescendingly told Sen. Tom Cotton that if he’d been in the Senate eight years ago, he’d have known that Republicans didn’t give Barack Obama’s CIA nominee the same courtesy.
To which the Arkansas senator snapped back: “Eight years ago, I was getting my ass shot at in Afghanistan. So don’t talk to me about where I was years ago.” Touché.
Even “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd noted that the whole thing “looks like a petty delay tactic.”
And unnecessary, too: No one suggested Pompeo’s nomination was in any trouble, and in fact he was confirmed Monday night by a bipartisan 66-30 vote.
Sen. Burr, for one, says he’s learned something about taking Chuck Schumer at his word: “I won’t make that mistake again.”