Speaking with reporters on Monday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said that shortly before NBC News broke the news that Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer would be retiring at the end of the current term, he received a call from White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
NBC cited “people familiar with [Breyer’s] thinking” as their source.
Durbin, (D-IL), said, “So I think it must have been Wednesday morning when I received a surprise call at 9:30 a.m. from Ron Klain, not a usual person to call me. I think the first time he’s ever called me. He said the president wanted me to know that Stephen Breyer was about to announce his retirement from the court, and they were telling a limited number of people and that I should keep it confidential.”
Klain told Durbin that Breyer was planning to make an official announcement the following day.
Durbin said the only person he told was his wife.
He added that an hour later, the news was out.
“That’s where confidential on Capitol Hill leads to, I guess,” Durbin noted.
Durbin had no knowledge about the identity of the ultimate leaker.
It was reported that Justice Breyer, 83, had been “blindsided” by the leak and who could blame him?
Administration pressure on Breyer to retire as soon as possible had been fierce. They want to be able to confirm a progressive nominee ahead of the midterms while they still retain a Senate majority.
Last week, Biden said he would select a nominee to replace Breyer by the end of February and that he would choose a black woman. Because it worked out so well for him the last time he made a hiring decision based on race and gender.
The White House had every reason to want this news to leak. As they knew it would, this story immediately diverted the media’s attention from the situation in Ukraine, terrible news on inflation and the administration’s inability to pass voting-rights legislation.
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