Trump Calls On NRA’s Wayne LaPierre to Help Secure Gorsuch Confirmation

Michael Reynolds - Pool/Getty Images
Michael Reynolds - Pool/Getty Images

President Trump held a meeting with conservative leaders on February 1 in which he called on NRA Senior Vice President Wayne LaPierre to guide the leaders in a way that secures confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Trump’s meeting with LaPierre and leaders from some of the “most influential conservative groups in the nation” came one day after he nominated Gorsuch to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia.

NRATV’s Grant Stinchfield covered the meeting, wherein Trump thanked the NRA for supporting him during the election, then designated LaPierre to guide both the NRA and the various conservative groups toward confirmation.

Video of the event shows LaPierre seated beside Trump as Trump opens the meeting by looking at the NRA senior vice president and saying, “Wayne, I would say they know you. Perhaps they know you better than they know me.” LaPierre demurred, “I doubt that,” then introduced himself and the NRA:

Stinchfield reminded viewers that Trump campaigned on a promise to “appoint a Scalia-like Supreme Court justice … that would protect gun rights for years to come.” He pointed out that Trump “held true to his promise” via the Gorsuch nomination.

After asking LaPierre to lead the efforts to secure Gorsuch’s confirmation, Trump said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should “go nuclear” to defeat a Democrat filibuster, if need be. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) set the precedent of the “nuclear” option by eliminating the filibuster for judicial nominees in 2013.

On November 21, 2013, USA Today reported that Senate Democrats voted to “[reduce] the threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes for Senate approval of executive and judicial nominees against unanimous GOP opposition.” Trump is asking McConnell to take this same action if the Democrats try to block Gorsuch’s confirmation.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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