Are Virginia Senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sending a warning to the White House? Read this editorial posted today in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Tim Kaine apparently forgives and forgets.
Quietly — because some traditions of the U.S. Senate still demand it — Kaine and his fellow Democrat, Mark Warner, are recommending to President Donald Trump two candidates for a prized federal prosecutor’s job in Roanoke.
One prospect’s name is synonymous with the intersection of law and politics: Cullen — as in the litigator hired by the Republican who defeated Kaine for the vice presidency and, like Trump, has lawyered up because of the criminal investigation into Russia’s attack on the U.S. election in 2016.
Implicit in the senators’ recommendation appears to be a warning to the White House to avoid pushing objectionable candidates whom the Virginians could block for confirmation through procedural arcana.
It’s not clear whether Trump will go along with Warner and Kaine, select someone proposed by Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation or find his own candidate. The support of Virginia’s senators will be crucial to avoid a confrontation that could further erode Trump’s standing in a state he lost.
Kaine and Warner, both leading critics of the president on health care and national security, could invoke a privilege — one not even in the Senate’s rules — that could delay a vote on a Trump nominee. In some instances, this is done anonymously, with the senator requesting the hold not identified.
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