EXCLUSIVE: AG Eric Schmitt Slams Senate Dem. Opponent Campaigning to ‘Pack’ Court, Eliminate Filibuster

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks in
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File

Missouri Attorney General and Republican candidate for the state’s Senate seat Eric Schmitt slammed Democrat nominee for Senate Trudy Busch Valentine over her “radical” views on “packing” the US Supreme Court, despite recent attempts to walk them back.

In light of Democratic Senate candidate and Anheuser-Busch beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine’s support for “packing” the Supreme Court, state attorney Eric Schmitt depicted Busch Valentine as “extreme” in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Thursday. 

“The Heiress is one of the most extreme candidates that the Democrats have put forward this year,” Schmitt said.

In addition, he said, his opponent “describes herself as the ’51st vote’ for the Biden-Schumer agenda” as she “actively campaigns on packing the court and eliminating the filibuster.” 

Schmitt concluded by pledging to combat his Democrat opponent’s “radical” views and truly stand for the Show Me State’s values.

“In the U.S. Senate, I will fight these radical positions and represent Missouri values,” he vowed.

In July, when asked in a one-on-one interview with KMOV if she would favor a proposal to “increase the size of the Supreme Court” by several justices, the retired healthcare worker and heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune replied: “I think that’s the way we’re looking at it right now because the Supreme Court has become such a political court.”

She also added that she wants to “see the end of the filibuster in the Senate [because] it doesn’t work anymore.”

Her position matched that of far-left Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who previously expressed support for a push to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court. 

“I think that we should be expanding the court,” the radical “squad” member stated last year.

However, last week, during a tele-town hall, Busch Valentine attempted to reverse her position, claiming she was not in favor of packing the courts in response to a question on how she views the Court’s “vetting process” and what she seeks in potential justices:

 I don’t think that any judge should be politically inclined, period, and I think that’s what we have right now. We have politically-appointed judges and they are voting for the politicians, and they are not going by law and by good judgment and what they need to do. I think that has to change. I don’t know how it’s going to change. I don’t know how adding more judges on [the Supreme court] will have a big difference if we are constantly having politicians that are Democrat or Republican that are the presence that are approving these guys to get on.

However, Busch Valentine’s official platform states she will “support efforts to end the filibuster to pass legislation to federally protect the right to an abortion.”

Schmitt, the Republican nominee for the Senate seat up for grabs in November, is leading his Democrat challenger by double digits, a recent Saint Louis University/YouGov poll found. 

Schmitt leads his Democrat opponent, Anheuser-Busch heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, by eleven percentage points, or 49 percent to 38 percent. 

Another eight percent said they remain unsure, and five percent chose “other.”

Schmitt’s advantage only grows with the addition of John Wood, an independent, on the ballot. 

In that scenario, Schmitt’s lead on Valentine grows to 13 percent, leading 44 percent to 31 percent. The independent earns ten percent of the vote, while 13 percent remain unsure, and three percent say “other.”

Last month, Schmitt hit back at a Democrat for labeling him a “fascist” for his defense of former President Donald Trump’s con­sti­tu­tion­al rights following the Biden administration Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unprece­dent­ed raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. 

In August, he highlighted the poor consequences of Democrat leadership as he blasted St. Louis leaders for blaming the city’s crime issues, in part, on car manufacturers, instead of on Democrat policies.

“St. Louis has a violent crime problem. What’s causing crime in the city? The Mayor’s war against the police? The prosecutor letting criminals run wild?” he asked.

“Evidently city ‘leaders’ think it’s….the cars. Yes — car manufacturers are to blame, not criminals,” he said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

In July, he called St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones an “unserious person seeking to score political points at every turn while turning a blind eye to the ceaseless murders plaguing the city.” 

“Sadly her tenure is synonymous with forced masking, crime, defunding the police & now illegal taxpayer funded abortions,” he added.

 Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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