Trump bragged to Bob Woodward that he had broken ‘every record’ on appointing judges

Donald Trump has boasted that he has broken ‘every record’ on the appointment of judges, stating that only George Washington did more ‘because he appointed 100 per cent’.

The president spoke with pride of his achievements over the course of 18 interviews with Bob Woodward for Woodward’s book Rage.

He said that Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Senate, was obsessed with appointing conservative judges, and celebrated that fact that Barack Obama left the White House with 100 vacancies in the courts.

The issue of appointing judges has become an intense topic following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, aged 87. 

Trump and McConnell hope to quickly replace her with a candidate of their choosing; while Democrats argue that it is wrong to appoint a new judge so close to a presidential election, and whoever wins in November should choose.

‘You know what Mitch’s biggest thing is in the whole world? His judges,’ Trump told Woodward, according to tapes obtained by the Washington Post.

He said that faced with a choice between pushing 10 ambassadors or a single judge through the Senate, ‘he will absolutely ask me: “Please, let’s get the judge approved instead of 10 ambassadors.”‘ 

Trump in January bragged that he had installed 187 judges to the federal bench -making one in four circuit court judges a Trump appointee – and two to the Supreme Court.

‘The only one that has a better percentage is George Washington, because he appointed 100 per cent,’ Trump told Woodward. 

‘But my percentage is, you know, like, ridiculous.’ 

Woodward noted that Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, never got the chance to nominate a Supreme Court judge during his presidency.

Trump replied: ‘He deserved none.’ 

Trump told the veteran journalist and author in March that he had just signed his 220th judge and expected to be at ‘260, 270, maybe even 280, maybe even 300’ by the end of his first term. 

The Senate has so far confirmed 216 of Trump’s judges. 

Noting Trump’s evident pride, Woodward joked: ‘Maybe they’ll put a statue of you outside the Supreme Court.’

The president, according to the taped interview, was impressed.

‘Oh, what a good idea,’ Trump said. 

‘I think I’ll have it erected tomorrow. What a great idea. I’ll think I’ll use it.

‘I won’t say it came from me.’