'Disqualifying' deflections from Trump's judicial nominees alarm expert: 'So dangerous'

Several of President Donald Trump's recent judicial nominees have displayed a disqualifying pattern of behavior that has alarmed a legal expert. In hearing after hearing, Democrats have asked Trump's judicial nominees: Who won the 2020 general election? Yet several nominees have refused to explicitly say that former President Joe Biden won the election, and have instead deflected, according to Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor. Weissmann said on a new episode of the Court of History podcast on Wednesday that the nominees' refusal to say Biden won the election should be disqualifying at least. There is no credible evidence, Weissmann said. There's right-wing conspiracy talk, but there is no credible evidence of any material fraud in the 2020 election. And that to me would have been a perfectly legitimate thing to say. Trump has routinely claimed that the election was rigged against him, even though his lawyers failed to prove that in more than 60 court cases, and some of whom have been disbarred for their involvement in Trump's efforts to overturn the results.Weissmann noted that the nominees who refuse to acknowledge that there was no material evidence of fraud in the 2020 general election pose a significant danger to the American judiciary going forward. This is so dangerous that you have people who have lifetime appointments, if they are confirmed, who are going to be operating if they're consistent with how they're behaving in their confirmation hearing, as they will be on the bench. That is corrupting one of the few checks and balances that are still functioning in this country right now.