Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a staunch ally of President-elect Trump, warned Republican colleagues Wednesday that “we’re gonna try to get you out of the Senate” if they vote against Trump’s nominees and agenda.
Tuberville argued that Trump won a huge mandate in last week’s election and that Republican colleagues such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who have expressed opposition to Trump’s choice of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to head the Justice Department, need to “get out of the way.”
“Republicans if you’re not on the team, get out of the way,” Tuberville told Fox Business.
“President Trump and JD Vance are going to be running the Senate,” he declared, referring to the vice president-elect.
And he warned there would be consequences for GOP colleagues who oppose Trump’s agenda by voting against controversial nominees or legislation.
“If you want to get in the way, fine. But we’re gonna try to get you out of the Senate too if you try to do that,” he said.
Tuberville said he saw that a few of his Republican colleagues are already criticizing Trump’s nominees, particularly Gaetz, who faced a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department and was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
But he said they need to get in line and let Trump have the Cabinet he wants.
“You’re finding all the swamp creatures coming out right now. Everybody’s got an opinion up here but at the end of the day President Trump was elected by an enormous vote and he deserves the team around him that he wants,” he argued.
“It’s not us to determine that,” he said, downplaying the Senate’s constitutional role of providing advice and consent on a president’s nominations to the Cabinet, broader administration and lifetime court seats.
“We’ve got 53 votes in the Senate. We can confirm with 51. I’ve already seen where a couple of [GOP senators say], ‘I’m not voting for him,’” he said when asked whether Gaetz could get enough votes to win confirmation.
“Wait a minute, you are not the United States of America. You have one vote in the U.S. Senate. You did not get elected president. Vote with President Trump. This is the last chance we’re going to have of saving this country,” he said, delivering a stern message to colleagues.
