Kash Patel participates in panel at CPAC Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole. (Shutterstock.com)
Donald Trump's presidential transition is already at work, with speculation underway about how it may circumvent the U.S. Senate's "advise and consent" rule.
Reports surfaced Monday that Trump is looking into ways that they can use recess appointments to ensure some of his people can be appointed regardless of controversy.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace asked former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) why Trump would need to use all of these tactics given he has Republican control in the Senate.
Also read: Retired judge grades Trump's appointees —and finds some have 'lost their way'
"You've got me. I can't figure it out," McCaskill confessed.
Her only thought is that Trump will say, "I'm going to pick people that are so bad my own party won't support them."
"Which is essentially what he's saying," said McCaskill. "He's going to have a minimum of 52 senators. Maybe he's going to pick such crazy people he thinks he can't get Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and maybe one or two others."
She said Trump could also buck the norm, assuming that the Constitution doesn't apply to him.
"But the Supreme Court has spoken on this," said McCaskill, explaining that recess appointments only apply for a "limited period of time."
"If he has some idea he can just blow up the Constitution over the role of confirmation, advice, and consent, he is not talking to real lawyers, which, of course, he has a habit of doing," said McCaskill.
The Supreme Court also decided in July: "The nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts."
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