'Move quickly!' Trump orders GOP lawmakers to find way to cut through Dem obstruction

President Donald Trump lashed out at Democratic leadership Wednesday over the ongoing delays to the confirmation of his judicial appointments, calling Democrats “extortionists” for trying to leverage his appointments for the release of frozen federal funding.

“Politically embattled Senator, cryin’ Chuck Schumer, wants the Republicans to pay, as extortion, $2 billion in order for the radical left Democrats to approve the hundreds of Trump appointments who have been waiting for months, and are raring to go,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R-NY) has been in negotiations with GOP leadership over Trump’s appointments, which Democrats have sought to delay and obstruct, something party leadership sees as one of the few methods of pushing back on the Trump administration.

A proposal by Schumer would see Democrats allow the confirmation of some of Trump’s judicial appointments in exchange for the release of billions of dollars of frozen federal spending; $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $1 billion for the international financing organization Global Fund, and $300 million for the World Food Program.

Trump, however, is instead urging Republicans to halt negotiations, and instead, draft laws prohibiting such negotiations going forward.

“This has never happened before,” Trump wrote. “There has never, in U.S. history, been such a delay. They are extortionists! Republicans must create legislation in order to get out of the grasp of these country-hating thugs. Move quickly!”