the senate republicans need to do their job as well. it's now my honor and my privilege to yield to someone who has been a stalwart for justice in this institution, a revered member of the house of representatives, the great whip of house democrats, and someone who has the respect of everyone in the united states capital and beyond for his service to the house and his service to the country, a great friend to the congressional black caucus, and we're so thankful he's present here today. i yield to the gentleman. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend from new york, mr. jeffries, for his excellent presentation. i want to thank mr. scott, who, as the gentleman othered, is -- observed, is one of the leaders in this congress on the constitution and on the law and on equal justice. i want to thank my friend from ohio, the gentlelady from ohio, for her remarks. and i notice that the chair of the congressional black caucus, mr. butterfield, formally -- formerly a judge on the court in north carolina. i want to first, mr. speaker, say that i thank the co

that's a concern for the senate to hold its republican majority. certainly, democrat will make this case time and time again, putting a lot of pressure on those sort of swing state senators who are up for re-election. trying to get the advantage, to reclaim the senate. so this will be a huge political fight. if merrick garland cannot even be visited by the 54 republicans in the senate, that will bring up the political argument of stonewalling, obstruction for obstruction's sake. it will be a very strong argument for democrats. can they put a crack in that at all because he is so widely well thought of and as pete discussed at 63 and having been considered before, perhaps even the white house is considering this sort of a last opportunity for garland to be put in this position to be nominated for something that is certainly the highlight of his career. so we'll have to see. so far, republicans are not officially commenting on the selection of merrick garland. i suspect they will wait until the president makes it official. but the strategy for them w

the senate republicans are floundering at this point. senator mcconnell put them on a strategy which is impossible to defend. many of them have to go back home and explain it and it's becoming more and more difficult. >> all right. senator dick durbin, thanks for taking the time to come on the show. appreciate it. >> thanks, chris. >> that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" begins "the rachel maddow show" begins right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks, my friend. >> you bet. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. we knew this day would come. we didn't not know exactly when. as recently as yesterday there are people paid to talk for a living that were assuring us this day would definitely not come today but it's come today. the time has, in fact, arrived. and my friends, we must now gather together to poof marco rubio. we started with 17, 17. 17 people all got in over the course of last spring and summer. nobody got out until september 11th when the first one we got to poof was rick

now it is time for the senate republicans to do theirs. judge garland puts the law above ideology, exactly the type of nominee that republicans profess to love when it comes to the supreme court. you simply can't lay a glove on him. so, if republicans continue to stand in the way and refuse to do their job, it will only be because they want donald trump to pick the next nominee. [laughter] occasionally republicans may try , to distance themselves from him with their words, but their failure to do their job and give judge garland the consideration he deserves ties them to trump in a way they cannot untangle. if the republicans in the senate want to continue to tie themselves to donald trump, so be it. donald trump won't make america great again, but he will make republicans the minority again. so the message from the american , people to senate republicans is simple -- do your job. the american people overwhelmingly believe republicans have the responsibility to do their job because people get up and go to work every day and do theirs. if p

so senate republicans have done this here. not only have they unconstitutionally changed a president's term from four years to three years, not only are they renouncing their advice and consent rule, not only are they effectively suggesting the constitution be amended to popularly elect supreme court justices, but even more lame are the lengths the republicans went to in order to rationalize their decision." no more excuses. the senate judiciary committee in the senate should do its job. when the president submits a nominee, we should give that nominee a fair and thorough hearing, a fair respectful and thorough hearing, as one republican said over and over again, in full view of the american people and then vote. fair warning to my senate republicans. they say the american people should decide. they will decide. they'll decide in november that the republicans in the senate should do their job. i yield the floor. mr. leahy: will the senator yield for a question? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. pr

, republican senators are reluctant to join it in. they know one thing. american people are overwhelmingly on our side in the polls are tilting further in our favor every week. in the week after justice scalia's unfortunate passing, you had 54% saying the senate should act. a week later, it picked up to 62%. 70 percent ofhat, voters in battleground states and the senate should do its job and vote on the nominee and yesterday's poll showed nearly thinkin 10 americans republicans are playing politics with the supreme court, including a whopping 62% of republicans and conservatives. seven in 10 said the senate should hold hearings. 68% said who sits on the supreme court is important to them. so the idea that senator ,cconnell can make this go away they are holding a bad position here when it comes to the american people's views. that is not working because 68% to said on the court say it is important to them and only 16% believe the republican argument that they are holding out for the principle of letting the next president decide. day

the senate under republican leadership can do no less. mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i ask that i be permitted to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: thank you, mr. president. mr. blumenthal: i'm pleased to be here today to speak again in support of the comprehensive addiction and recovery act which the senate will consider and i hope approve this week. it is a long overdue measure to address the public health hurricane, a crisis that we face in this country every bit as real and threatening as threats there abroad. in fact, i've come today just now from a hearing at the armed services committee where i had the opportunity to question some of our nation's leading military expert

here is republican senator jeff flake? >>> republicans are fully justified in doing with we are doing, waiting. but if we happen to lose the election we we ought to push him through quickly, if we can. >> senator, is jeff flake wrong? >> i think so. look, president obama calling this judge a moderate does not make him a moderate. this judge would move the court dramatically to the left. he is enthusely supported by www. moveonorg. i don't thing they would be enthusiastic about a liberal judge. the principle is the same whether it is before or after the election, the principle is, the membership are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this supreme court nominee >> final question you are saying no consideration of judge merrick garland by this conditioning even if hillary clinton wins the election, no consideration by this conditioning you are going to stand firm on that even in a lame duck session? >> i cannot imagine a republican majority in the united states senate with want to confirm in a

why do that republican senators think that they are any different? joining us today, we have someone that gets up and does his or her job every day that will talk about what happened to her if she tried to do what the republicans are doing now. i would like to thank the doctor for joining us today. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. >> iem and everyday dr. for everyday people. i take my job very seriously. my patient's lives depend on the team to fulfill the duty to uphold the oath. my patient's families depend on the team to take responsibility and do our job every day. in order for the patients and communities to achieve good health, everyone on the team must work together. we have a duty to be held accountable for people's lives to serve the patients and the community as a team even in the most adversarial situation where there may be reasons meant, everyone at the least does their job to gather and not divided because that is what is best for the patient. if the doctor doesn't want to see a patient or a nurse chooses not to do vital signs are a spe

senate republicans aren't planning on doing that. that's such a radical decision it will be hard to defend. that's the case being made by the loudest and most influential voice who is not either in the white house or running get there this year. >> their response to one of the most solemn and consequential tasks that our government performs, the confirmation of a supreme court justice to pretend that the nominee and president obama do not exist. cannot see them, cannot hear them. at the same time, that they are blocking all possible supreme court nominees, senate republicans are in panic because their party seems to be on the verge of nominating one of two extremists for president. two candidates who think nothing about attacking the legitimacy of their political opponents and demeaning millions of americans. two candidates whose extremism, republicans worries will lead their party to defeat in november. these are not separate issues. they are the same issue. if republican senators want to sustained up to extremists running for presi

reason to want the republicans to control the senate. they can't defund planned parenthood, they can't repeal obamacare. they can stand up and say we can actually do something. second, this is a way they say of protesting executive overreach by the president. although this is a clear constitutional right and duty of the president to nominate people to the federal judiciary. what's puzzling is the republican senate leaders who are saying this have all said of course they will support donald trump if he's the party's nominee. they're saying we're quite content to have judicial nominations made by mr. trump whose qualifications are foggy. and it's puzzling to hear mitch mcconnell saying that we must follow the biden rule. a biden rule endorsed by harry reid. the biden rule was he said no confirmations during a political season. when are we not in a political season? it's just not an election year. by what principle do we decide when a president's ability to nominate people becomes progressively attenuated? after the midterm elections of the

republicans, especially the senate republicans, have really dug their heels in on this. they don't want to see a hospital provider fee bill because they feel it will take away taxpayer refunds and they believe it's unconstitutional. they have an opinion from the general assembly to back them up. however, this past monday, attorney general cynthia coffman signed with the and says she does believe it's constitutional. the speaker of the house said she plans to introduce that bill on march 18, the same day the revenue forecasts come out. she is hoping that there will be some movement on it that will get the bill into the senate and that there can be some compromise, particularly over a bill on transportation funding. >> okay, march 18 is the target date to watch for that. i think with that, we are going when you get one gig internet from centurylink and prism tv and they're both delivered on a super-fast fiber network directly to your home, it's amazing. it is amazing, but do you think his delivery was a little flat on that one? just -- yeah. um, paul, i think it's a little

some say why should senate republicans act any less politically than then senator obama did? >> the fact of the matter is that justice roberts is on the court today. the last time we were in an election year under president reagan, the chief justice was already there. we know that during reagan's election year 93-0 the nominee was approved. this is a time when vice president biden was chairman of the judiciary committee. and we were able to move forward. so we've done this in an election year before. there's no reason why we can't do it now. >> on the senate floor, majority leader mitch mcconnell invoked what he called the biden rule as previous precedent. you talked about when senator biden was chairman of the judiciary committee. take a listen to what then senator biden, chairman of the judiciary committee in 1982, argued about how president george h.w. bush should not name a nominee. listen. >> it would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way, and it is, action on a supreme court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign i

and that's what identifies them as extremists and why republicans, republicans in the senate are breaking apart over this. and, yet, what if republicans i in the senate been doing since the very day that barack obama was sworn in. they have given in to their extremists. they have nursed their extremists along so there's been fights and delays over the basic things that happen in government. the president tries to get his team out. starting this 2012, after he had been re-elected by 5 million votes. we all come back and first thing that happens is the republicans in the senate want to shut it down. they don't want anybody to go forward to be the head of the nlrb. why? they are trying to shut down the nlrb. they don't want anybody appointed to the head of consumer protection financial bureau. why, because they don't want anybody to be the or the consumer protection financial bureau to function. they don't want a secretary of labor. they don't want anybody confirmed over the environmental protection agency. they don't want the president of the united states to be able to fill any, any of the

that's the tradeoff that senate republicans are facing. it certainly seems at the moment that they are happy to just kick the can down the road, think that a republican may be elected president, something that has happened. they have put their line in the sand about this nominee. so this is a very interesting ceremony coming up. but the idea that merrick garland will be on the supreme court anytime, perhaps ever, seems remote. >> that's a fair point. dana, you spent time looking at the various contingencies out there. it seems extremely doubtful after all the public comments, since antonin's sudden death, that they are going to change their mind at all. this is going to be a nice ceremony but it probably won't be much more than that. >> that would be an about-face of epic proportions at this point. and talking to the republicans up until the time i came on with you, it doesn't seem like there's any desire to change. in fact, one senior senate republican, who i just spoke with, said that their take on it is that the president knows he has n

here is republican senator jeff lake. >> i think republicans are fully justified in doing what we're doing. waiting. but if we happen to lose the election, then i think we ought to push him through quickly if we can. >> senator, is jeff lake wrong? >> yeah, i think so. look, barack obama calling judge -- this judge a moderate doesn't make him a moderate. this judge would move the court dramatically to the left. he's enthusiastically supported by moveon.org. i don't think they would be signing up and have all this enthusiasm about a liberal judge. the principle is the same. whether it's before the election or after the election. the principle is the american people are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this supreme court nominee. >> so, final question. you're saying no consider -- no consideration of judge garland by this congress even if hillary clinton wins the election? no consideration by this congress? you're going to stand firm on that even in a lame duck session? >> yeah. i can't imagine that a republican majority in the united states senate wou

lo and behold, president obama has to deal with a republican senate. probably the best way to compare him, this is the democratic party's version of kennedy, center left. as we were discussing, he didn't check a political box with this one. being 63, this is the president not trying to change the court for an entire generation. he is putting real pressure on the republicans to stick by the pledge, that they're not going to even have a hearing. >> not even have a hearing, not even have a courtesy call meeting. what, pete, does judge garland do? does he go up to capitol hill and knock on doors? >> he'll probably do that, yes. there's been -- he will be well-coached now by an entire white house operation with outside support to try to push this nominee through the senate. anyway. that'll be an extra -- of extra importance with this one. republicans won't meet with him, much less hold a confirmation hearing or a floor vote. they'll try to get the difference. maybe pictures of him knocking on doors that won't open. but they'll certainly show the courtesy ca

we're just asked senate republicans to do the same thing senate democrats did back in 1988 and that is give a fair hearing and a fair up or down vote to the nominee to the supreme court that the president put forward even though the president is in the other party. it's just a matter of simple fairness. >> i know you've heard this before but here's then senator biden. >> the senate judiciary committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until ever -- until after the political campaign season is over. it would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way and it is, action on a supreme court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. that is what is fair to the nominee and essential to the process. >> they say that's the same case. >> two things about that. the first is that senator biden also in that speech indicated that if the president was willing to put forward a consensus pick, that he would give that person a fair hearing and an up or down vote. that's precisely what president obama

and virtually every senate republican say, mr. president, it's a hopeless cause. don't bother nominating a nominee. we are not going to take that person up. some people went so far to say we won't have a courtesy meeting. so since then, you know, not a lot has changed, although there have been, you know, sort of maneuverings in the background and everyone's sort of gaming out the various scenarios and whether, you know, mitch mcconnell and the rest of the republicans in the senate will have the resolve to blockade whoever president obama ends up nominating. >> play out the scenarios then. what might happen in this process? >> well, you know, i think that, you know, the democrats sort of have a nose under the camel's tent sort of attitude towards this if we can just get a hearing, if we can get -- you know, if we can just take that first step and then we'll go from there. and i think for instance right now you saw last week on wednesday harry reid the minority leader taking a pretty hard run at charles grassley, the chairman of the

the senate republicans who control the senate have said they don't see that happening. they don't want to hold meetings. they don't want to do hearings. there will be a fight outside the senate with outside groups on both sides of the aisle, making their argument, taking their argument to the voters and trying to press the senate republicans. at this point, we have not seen any signs the senate republicans will move even though the president says he is nominated a consensus candidate. >> coming up more high-level political conversation with canada's prime minister. plus, more reaction to the trio of central bank decisions. that is also to come on "bloomberg best." ♪ alix: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am alix steel. among the most intriguing interviews on bloomberg television this week, a chat with the c.e.o. who led jcpenney's turnaround and blackstone's tony james explains why his company is bullish on energy investing. let's begin with our exclusive conversation with justin trudeau who sat down with john micklethwait. john: a lot of people look at canada's ec

and, of course, this is all in the context, carol, of senate republicans, including senator hatch, saying that they are not going to hold a hearing for any president obama nominee. and this goes straight to what we have been expecting, that whoever is chosen is a consensus pick, a moderate, and merrick garland fits that bill. he has a reputation as a brilliant and meticulous judge, playing it straight and deciding every case based on what the law requires. so some thoughts there from the white house in terms of why they chose merrick garland and, of course, we'll hear more in half an hour from now. >> all right. i have to leave it there. much more on the other side. i had so many thoughts once i left the hospital after a dvt blood clot. what about my wife... ...what we're building together... ...and could this happen again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? i spoke to my doctor and she told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood

it is shot down by senate republicans, vowing to bar any nominee. also, a deal with turkey, and the fight against human traffickers. angela merkel spelling out her policy at an evening a summit with turkey tomorrow. among skepticism from european partners, and voters here in germany. the u.s. federal reserve says it is holding interest rate steady with the u.s. economy now expanding at a moderate pace. said chairwoman janet yellen says two interest rate increases look likely later in the year. ♪ anchor: my name is christopher, thank you for joining us. president barack obama has nominated merrick garland to be the next supreme court justice. the vacancy on the supreme court follows the death of the conservative justice, antonin scalia, last month. but republicans controlling the senate say they will block a vote on anyone obama nominates. they want to prevent him from moving the court to the left before he leaves office. >> for many, it would be a crowning moment in a judicial career, standing at the president's side as a supreme court nominee. le

to say the republicans in the senate have been building this for a long time. because they have clearly given in to the extremists in the party. when you have given in your extremists like that, when the whole animating of energy of the united states senate is in effect to try to deny the legitimacy of the president who is democratically elected, the legitimacy of what's called for in the constitution means they really have just gone the extremist route and senate republicans having picked this position that says we're not doing to even hold hearings and a vote on a vacancy in the united states supreme court basically for a year. this is really pretty stunning. >> let's turn now to the race for the white house with hillary clinton and donald trump edging closer to securing the nominations. they are now both setting their sights on each other. nbc's andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: game on. hillary clinton and trump going after each other as though they were already their party's nominees. trump firing off this instagram video. ridiculing her as a weak com

john: senator mitch mcconnell puts down the marker on behalf of republicans in the senate after president obama nominated merrick garland, chief justice of the dc court of appeals to be the replacement on the supreme court for justice antonin scalia. you heard the former judge, the connell is a former judge himself saying it is not the time to consider in a political year the nomination the president puts forward. it is about the process and not the person, he says, and he cited as president the opposition from incoming senate majority leader chuck schumer and vice president joe biden who as we mentioned in 1992 said a president in the final year of his term should not put forward a nominee to the supreme court. the dye are cast, markers are laid down, let's see which the president of the united states or the u.s. senate. it is going to be a contentious battle ahead. martha: laying out the responsibility of the next president which will be to appoint the judge to replace justice antonin scalia. let's bring in a syndicated radio host, simon rosenberg, president of the new democrat network

it is time for the senate republicans to do their job. the president and the senate must fulfill their constitutional responsibility in times of war, economic depression, yes, even in an election year. last week majority leader mcconnell reportedly told a group of house republicans there isn't -- quote -- "a snowball's chance in hell" that he would back down from his plan of obstruction. nevertheless, today president obama has invited majority leader mcconnell to meet with him in the white house to discuss the supreme court vacancy. they have also invited the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, senator grassley; the ranking democrat, senator leahy; and of course the minority leader of the senate, senator reid. why did the president offer this meeting? because that's what always happens. when a president is about to consider filling such an historic vacancy, he brings together the leaders of the senate to discuss his thought process and perhaps to solicit names from them of potential nominees. even when we disagreed in the past and

so the stakes should even be higher for senator grassley than the other republican senators. why? because as judiciary chairman, senator grassley presides over one of the most important and prestigious committees in the entire united states senate. this has been the case for 200 years. 200 years. the senate judiciary committee was established 200 years ago. in 1816 it was one of the original 118 standing committees 20 decades passed, that's how long the committee's been in operation. throughout history judiciary committee chairs have wielded immense power and president martin van buren, when he was in the senate, senator ted kennedy, senator arlen specter, senator joe biden, judiciary chairmen have prized their independence and guarded it from being man handled. the past chairmen stood firm and faced opposition from presidents and senate leadership. at crucial times in american history, the senate and the nation have looked to the judiciary committee to do the right thing. during the civil war, chairman liman trumble and his committee authored the 13th amendment. the 13th amendmen

the republicans in the senate are acting as if he doesn't have the power. the reality is, as a professor myself, the constitution says he has the power to make the appointment. and the senate has to do its job, advice and consent. they're acting like they don't have to do that. >> here's one thing. we don't give the republicans sometimes credit for strategiry. senator jeff lake of arizona made a statement on fox news on thursday that signals that there is a possibility that the president, if his calculation was they're not going to seat him anyway, he won't get through and maybe a more progressive nominee by a bernie sanders or hillary clinton, what if that doesn't work out? let's listen to jeff lake real quick. >> if the republicans are not successful in the november election, i hope we are, but if we're not, then we ought to look it at this nomination in a lame duck session in november. i would rather have a less liberal nominee like merrick garland than a nominee that hillary clinton, if she were president, would put forward. >> help me out. could they t

. >> a number of senate republicans say they present -- they plan to meet with president obama's supreme court nominee after match, has said there will be no meetings or confirmation hearings on judge merrick garland's nomination but now at least six senate republicans say they will meet with garland but mcconnell says the seat should stay vacant until after the presidential election. >> the american people need to weigh in and decide who is going to make this decision. not this lame-duck president on the way out the door, but the next president. >> reporter: the white house denies reports that president obama might nominate someone even more liberal if a democrat wins the democratic -- of the presidential election. >> we will stand by him from now until he is confirmed in sitting on the supreme court. >> to the end of the president's term. >> that's correct. >> those senate republicans agree to meet with garland in about two weeks after the easter recess. >>> a historic day in cuba as president obama and given present raul castro sign several agreements between the two countries after a

senate republicans condemn david duke, kkk and his racism. if a person wants to be the nom neeft republican party, there can be no evasion and no names. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. >> >> reporter: so will those harsh remarks from t t leadership of the republican party. those remar very harsh and coming in in the last few hours. whether it will make a difference remains to be seefnlt so far the poll numumrs say it won't. in the plex. nicole linsalata. 7 news..% >> belkeys: and now to the democrats w- in miami where hillary clinton will meet with pporters thing. alex diprato is there live. alex. >> reporter: and belkeys, hillary clinton will be in the building behind me as the votes roll in tonight. secretary receipt service inside doing a last minute sweet. bj she and bernie sanders spent the day today stumping for last

senate republicans have promised to block anyone the president nominates. they say the seed should be filled by the next president. florida's governor is urging all republicans to support donald strong -- trump. what heling for an into describes as republican on republican violence. in brazil, a new turn in the corruption investigation. the former president will join the current president as chief of staff. charges,s criminal joining the cabinet makes it more difficult to prosecute him.

senate republican leaders yesterday repeated their view that the next president should nominate a replacement for -- should not nominate a replacement for antonin scalia. they met with president obama in the oval office. the meeting produced no breakthrough. they say the president is narrowing his list of possible >>> apple is escalating its legal battle over the fbi over unlocking a encrypted iphone. it's acting out of, quote, an abundance of caution. director james comey acknowledged that investigators accidentally made it harder to access data on the gunman's iphone. his admission came yesterday during capitol hill testimony.

senate republicans say the next deciding vote. confirmation hearings. >> the american people deserve the opportunity, during this election year, to weigh in. s top democrat president' s nominee.

i simply ask republicans in the senate to give him a fair hearing. and then an up or down vote. if you don't, then it will not only be an abductiication of th senate's constitutional duty. it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair. it will mean everything is subject to the most partisan of politics, everything. it will provoke an endless cycle of more tit for tat and make it increasingly impossible for any president, democrat or republican, to carry out their constitutional function. the reputation of the supreme court will inevitably suffer. faith in our justice system will inevitably suffer. our democracy will ultimately suffer as well. i have fulfilled my constitutional duty. now it's time for the senate to do theirs. presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. neither should a senator. i know that tomorrow the senate will take a break and leave town on recess for two weeks. my earnest hope is that senators take that time to reflect on the importance of this process to our democracy. not what's expedient, not wha

resulted in a new senate republican majority and 12 new republican senators, including myself. american voters made it clear they were sick and tired of the bitter partisanship and inaction of the then-democrat-controlled senate, and they were frustrated with the president's overreliance on executive orders to bypass attempts at compromise and cooperation with congress. for the good of the nation, i hope the president and the democratic leadership do not repeat their mistakes of the past. i hope they'll accept, however reluctantly, the fact that the american people will have a voice in this supreme court decision, and start focusing on the issues that concern hard-working americans. i hope the president's final months in office will be spent working with both parties to do great things for our nation. that's what the american people want. that's what the american people deserve. thank you for your time, god bless you, and may god continue to bless the united states america. -- united states of america. has 48 hoursok tv of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. here are so

senate. >> one of your republican senators, mark kirk spoke out this week. he said the senate should vote. listen. >> just man up and cast a vote. the tough thing about these senatorial jobs, you get yes or no votes. yes or not and explain why. >> are you confident you'll hold republicans together? >> well, look. mark kirk is a great senator. he's running this year in illinois. i'm confident he'll get re-elected. the schedule in the senate is set by the majority leader. most of my members are comfortable with letting the american people make the decision by electing the next president who will fill this vacancy next year. >> let me move on. on tuesday, you said you told donald trump he should condemn and discourage violent acts. 24 hours later, he made the statement at riots in the convention. you heard him this morning on the violence as well. are you worried he's not getting your message? >> well, regardless of who the candidate is, i think all of the candidates fory president ough to be discouraging that kind of because the people in the audience tend to