Mitch McConnell Laughs While Bragging About Blocking Obama’s Federal Judge Picks

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) boasted to Fox’s Sean Hannity on Thursday about how he blocked former President Barack Obama‘s attempts to appoint judges, and laughed as he talked about how President Donald Trump is stacking courts with conservative judges.

“I was shocked that former President Obama left so many vacancies and didn’t try to fill those positions,” Hannity said.

McConnell answered, “I’ll tell you why. I was in charge of what we did the last two years of the Obama administration.”

McConnell not only blocked Obama’s proposed federal judges, but he stonewalled Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland from having a hearing.

In 2018, McConnell told Kentucky Today that blocking Garland’s appointment was “the most consequential decision I’ve made in my entire public career.”

Trump later filled that seat with conservative Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed in a 54-45 vote in April 2017.

During his eight-year presidency, two Supreme Courts appointed by Obama were confirmed. In three years, Trump has appointed the same amount.

Trump has had a massive impact on federal courts. Over a quarter of all active judges on the court of appeals were appointed by Trump. In his three-year tenure as president, Trump has appointed 48 judges, nearly the same number as Obama did in eight years (55).