Dick Durbin Trashes Trump Judicial Nom Over 'Offensive, Inflammatory, Juvenile' Social Media Posts

[00:00:00]So, ordered.

[00:00:01]>> When already whip?

[00:00:01]>> Are we in a quorum call?

[00:00:03]>> We are.

[00:00:03]>> I ask consent the quorum call be suspended.

[00:00:05]>> Without objection.

[00:00:06]>> Thank you, Mr. President.

[00:00:08]Mr. President, those seeking to recoup losses from President Trump's disastrous tariff policies will appear before what's called the Court of International Trade.

[00:00:19]As is the case with many of President Trump's judicial nominees in his second term, his choice to fill the vacancy on this court, Cara Westercamp, was tapped because of her obvious loyalty loyalty to the president who nominated her instead of her loyalty to the law.

[00:00:38]Her offensive, inflammatory, juvenile social media post demonstrates she lacks the independence and the maturity and the temperament to be a judge.

[00:00:52]Ms. Westercamp tried to delete her old tweets so we wouldn't see them on the committee.

[00:00:57]She failed.

[00:00:58]Our staff was able to recover them.

[00:01:01]In these tweets, Ms. Westercamp spread conspiracy theories about the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol and attacked Republicans and Democrats alike for being insufficiently loyal to President Trump.

[00:01:15]She elevated claims that the January 6th attack was, quote, orchestrated by members of the Senate and members of the Capitol Police. Let me repeat that.

[00:01:27]In her tweets, she claimed that the January 6th attack on the Capitol, which we all saw the videos of, was, quote, orchestrated by members of the Senate and members of the Capitol Police.

[00:01:41]So much for the judge judgment of this would-be judge.

[00:01:45]I was in this chamber during the counting of electoral votes for the 2020 election.

[00:01:51]Vice President Pence was sitting where the presiding officer sits today.

[00:01:56]Members of Congress watched as Secret Service evacuated the Vice President.

[00:02:00]Within minutes, we were told to leave as well because a violent mob of armed insurrectionists intended to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, which Donald Trump lost by 7 million popular votes.

[00:02:17]But Ms. Westercamp dismissed this event entirely.

[00:02:21]She retreated a post that read, and I quote, "We're all supposed to be sending thoughts and prayers to traumatized members of Congress whose work day was interrupted for a couple of hours."

[00:02:33]Mr. President, did you see the video?

[00:02:36]Did you see the mob?

[00:02:38]Did you see the damage they did to this US Capitol building?

[00:02:41]Yes, we left for our lives.

[00:02:44]Vice President was spirited out of here by the Secret Service to protect his life.

[00:02:50]Ms. Westercamp has also repeatedly attacked Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for supposedly, quote, "betraying President Trump," close quote.

[00:02:59]She even called Senator McConnell, quote, "a modern-day Benedict Arnold."

[00:03:04]And she repeatedly called him, quote, "Cocaine Mitch," close quote.

[00:03:09]A defamatory nickname used by MAGA critics of Senator McConnell, the Republican senator and former leader from Kentucky.

[00:03:18]I'm not going to be able to repeat some of the things that she wrote in her tweets.

[00:03:23]They're just too much.

[00:03:25]But of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, she wrote, and I quote, "True to no one but his own self-preservation," end quote.

[00:03:32]She crudely called him a name that I can't repeat in the record for not towing the MAGA line.

[00:03:40]There's much, much more that she had to say about Senator Graham.

[00:03:44]Ms. Westercamp accused Senator Collins of Maine of prioritizing her own personal political power over loyalty to President Trump and called for her removal, as well as the removal of Senators Murkowski and Cassidy following their vote on the second impeachment effort against the President.

[00:04:04]Ms. Westercamp can even posted a sexually explicit image and joke about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

[00:04:13]A post that Ms. Westercamp herself later described as "not safe for work", close quote.

[00:04:19]Notably, it appears some of her inflammatory, overtly political posts were made while Ms. Westercamp was on duty, actually, as an attorney at the Department of Justice. She was tweeting away.

[00:04:32]That would violate federal law.

[00:04:35]Last week, Leader Thune filed cloture so that we can move more quickly to Ms. Westercamp's nomination.

[00:04:41]After you've heard about her background, what do you think is a Senator?

[00:04:47]Despite her dis- disrespectful and inflammatory comments, she is a priority for the other side.

[00:04:53]It is a disgrace that Senate Republicans are moving forward on this nomination while Senator McConnell is still in the hospital and so soon after Senator Graham's passing.

[00:05:03]Judges are chosen for judgement, for character, for maturity, for competence, for independence, and most especially for their temperament. Ms. Westercamp does not meet that standard. I urge my colleagues to oppose her nomination.