Senator Tommy Tuberville skipped a vote on Tuesday to jet off to Bedminster and be with President Trump – who he said is ‘disappointed’ but in good spirits – on the day of his arrest.
Tuberville said he was the only senator to attend a dinner with Trump and between 20 and 30 of his donors.
‘I had dinner with him a couple hours after [the speech.]. He was good, disappointed he got indicted for something everybody else did,’ Tuberville told DailyMail.com, adding the fundraising dinner had been planned before indictment.
And the Alabama Republican insisted Trump was not focused on the day’s unprecedented events.
‘We talked about golf,’ Tuberville said.
‘He didn’t do near what everybody else did, but it’s all politics. He understands that. It’s not his first rodeo.’
Tuberville was one of the senators who got a phone call from Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 requesting they object to the certification of Joe Biden’s election.
The senator insisted Trump had not done anything different than the last ‘four or five presidents.’
Senator Tommy Tuberville skipped a vote on Tuesday to jet off to Bedminster and be with President Trump – who he said is ‘disappointed’ but in good spirits
‘We’re looking foolish here, the FBI is looking foolish, the DOJ. there’s a precedent set for the last four or five presidents and all of a sudden, :We don’t like this guy. So we’re gonna go after him.”‘
Tuberville said he was not concerned about Trump’s handling of classified documents, but the Department of Justice should be concerned about the documents found in President Biden’s garage.
‘I read all about those, most of ’em were from the Senate. I walk out of that SCIF — you don’t take anything with you.
‘There’s no reason for me to be concerned, I’m not the DOJ – they’re the ones that need to be concerned. It just doesn’t need to be a two-tiered system.’
Tuberville also remained obstinate about blocking military promotions until the Pentagon rescinds its policy to pay for travel costs for service members seeking abortions.
He said Senate GOP leadership had not urged him to back off his hold, which leadership confirmed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has previously said he does not agree with the tactic.
Tuberville said he is not concerned about military readiness with service members who are not able to take on their new roles.
‘They can do the important ones one at a time – we can do five today.’
Asked about using floor time for one-by-one, non-controversial promotions, Tuberville said: ‘Have you seen what we’re doing around here? Zero.’
Trump was arrested and arraigned in a Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday for his handling of classified documents – before he gave a speech to supporters at his club in Bedminster, N.J. and dined with donors
The senate must confirm hundreds of promotions this year.
Marine Gen. Eric Smith told senators Tuesday that Tuberville’s hold on promotions could compromise national security.
‘It certainly compromises our ability to be most ready,’ Smith said during an Armed Services Committee hearing. ‘Our readiness is national security.’
‘When a three-star general retires … there will be a one-star general, a fairly new one, in charge of [a] 48,000-person Marine Expeditionary Force,’ Smith explained. ‘It will have an effect.’
Tuberville’s colleagues have tried to work with him to find a solution that would allow some 250 senior officer promotions to move forward.
Tuberville reiterated Wednesday he will not back down until Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin rescinds the policy or the Senate does an up-or-down vote on the Pentagon’s policy.
Sen. Joni Ernst has proposed a bill that would effectively undo the Pentagon policy, and offered Tuberville a deal where her bill would get a vote as an amendment to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and he would lift his hold, but Tuberville declined.
‘I don’t want to hold NDAA up for this,’ the senator said.
Tuberville isn’t the only one holding up nominations.
On Tuesday Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, announced he would stand in the way of all of President Biden’s Department of Justice picks over the indictment of former President Trump. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is blocking Biden’s EPA nominees over the administration’s climate policies and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he would block health-focused nominees until Biden produces a plan to lower drug costs.