The ongoing feud between the president of the United States and a Fox News star continued this week after former Judge Andrew Napolitano quit pretending as though he doesn’t have motives for disliking President Donald Trump.
Although he downplayed the circumstances, Napolitano admitted that he once considered himself a potential Supreme Court nominee, and the fact that those aspirations never came to fruition may explain his increasing hostility towards Trump.
“Who would turn that down?” Napolitano asked, referring to the moment he and the president discussed a spot on the high court.
Sleeper candidate
Napolitano– a former New Jersey Superior Court judge– called Trump “venal, amoral,” and “deceptive” on his Fox Nation show last week, arguing that the president should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice. Trump responded in kind, outing the senior legal analyst in a series of tweets.
Thank you to brilliant and highly respected attorney Alan Dershowitz for destroying the very dumb legal argument of “Judge” Andrew Napolitano….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2019
Appearing on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, “Judge Nap” didn’t exactly deny the president’s accusations. He admitted meeting with then-President-Elect Trump during the White House transition but claimed that the president initiated the conversation about a potential Supreme Court opening after Napolitano recommended Neil Gorsuch for the job.
“He and I spoke for about three hours in two 90-minute meetings,” Napolitano revealed. “This is when he was the president-elect about the type of person that should replace Justice Scalia.”
“And in the process of my describing that person — and the person I was describing was then-Judge Neil Gorsuch — he looked to me and said, ‘Sounds like you’re describing yourself,’” Napolitano explained.
He continued: “I said, ‘No, no I’m not describing myself, I’m describing Neil Gorsuch because you have this list of people from which you want to choose and Judge Gorsuch is the person that I think most of your advisers are going to point to.’”
“This was early on in the process. So he said, ‘Alright, give me a spiel as to why I should put you on,'” Napolitano recounted. “Who would turn that down? I gave him the spiel, so to speak, and somebody else in the room said, ‘You know that’s pretty interesting, the judge is a little long in the tooth,’ to which the president said, ‘Blank you’ to the person who said the judge is long in the tooth. ‘I’m four years older than the judge and I’m about to become president.’ It was that kind of a conversation.”
The rest of the story …
Although Napolitano downplayed his discussion with the president in television appearances today, a March 2017 Politico report indicated that he previously took the potential job offer very seriously. “Trump said I’m on the list,” he allegedly told a friend shortly after one of their transition meetings.
Even after Trump produced his shortlist of candidates to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Napolitano held out hope, telling his colleagues that he was a “sleeper candidate for the job.” When it became clear that he didn’t stand a realistic chance for a spot on the high court, Napolitano’s tone towards the administration became increasingly critical.
That ship has sailed
Despite their differences, Napolitano still considers himself the president’s friend. “This is the way you treat your friends, how do you treat your enemies? Oh boy,” Napolitano quipped on Bartiromo’s show.
“His relationship with me is not the story,” he insisted. “We’ve been friends for 30 years and probably will be for the next 30 years.”
Perhaps Judge Nap still considers himself in the running if a third Supreme Court seat opens up. Someone should tell the Fox News star: that ship has sailed.
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