Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., says President-elect Trump should not offer Hunter Biden a pardon after Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September. 

‘I don’t think he should pardon Hunter,’ Johnson said in an interview on NewsNation’s ‘Dan Abrams Live.’

‘I think we need to be very careful about having a dual system of justice where the powerful, or the sons and daughters of the powerful get off scot-free,’ he said.

Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have spearheaded the Senate GOP’s investigations into President Biden’s son and allegations of corruption surrounding the Biden family. He has often criticized the Biden administration’s Justice Department for purportedly treating Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes with kid gloves, all the while calling the various criminal investigations into Trump politically motivated.

While Johnson is opposed to letting Biden off the hook, he did suggest that Trump might commute or otherwise reduce the first son’s sentence as a show of good will and effort to unify the country.

‘I could see possibly commuting the sentence, reducing it, and it wouldn’t surprise me if President Trump would do that,’ he said. ‘I would not pardon Hunter. I would certainly not. I wouldn’t scream about commuting his sentence or reducing it in some way, shape or form.’

Hunter Biden was indicted on three felonies and six misdemeanor counts alleging he evaded paying at least $1.4 million in taxes while simultaneously spending money on ‘drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,’ according to the December 2023 indictment.

Prosecutors also allege the tax returns Hunter ultimately did file falsely claimed that things like prostitutes, strip club visits, porn website subscriptions and other personal expenses were actually deductible business expenses.

The aim, according to the indictment, was to ‘evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities’ that Hunter faced.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been repeatedly asked whether President Biden might pardon his son before leaving office. Asked again on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said the president still had no intention of doing so.

‘We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no,’ she said.

Trump himself floated the idea of a pardon or commuted sentence for Biden in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt in October.

‘Will you pardon Hunter Biden,’ Hewitt asked the former and future president on Oct. 24. 

‘I wouldn’t take it off the books,’ Trump replied. ‘See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what, and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from hell. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.’ 

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

In the final days of President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, he honed in on a culture war issue that may have locked in more swing votes and with it the election, a conservative activist instrumental in the ad campaign argues.

‘Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,’ the narrator of Trump’s advertisement said.

The ad, which focused on men in women’s sports and Vice President Kamala Harris’ track record of ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California, was in part due to the influence of American Principles Project’s president, Terry Schilling, who began pushing out these ads in 2019.

Schilling said back then, the issue was ‘too premature’ to make waves in the conservative movement. But over the course of the Biden-Harris administration, as the gender ideology wars began to make it into the mainstream spotlight, Schilling believed it would be a winning issue for conservatives.

The American Principles Project spent tens of millions on ads highlighting the transgender issue in states across the country, and Schilling went to Mar-a-Lago a few months ago to personally encourage Trump to lean in on the opportunity.

‘The cue of giving sex change procedures to inmates is so radical, it’s so extreme, and it’s one of those issues that touches on not just the culture war, but the economy, too,’ Schilling told Fox News Digital. 

‘You have a lot of families that are hurting, they’re struggling to put food on the table,’ Schilling said. ‘They’re struggling to be able to afford to send their kids to a decent school where they can learn to read and write properly, and they’re scrapping all their pains together, and then they see that their government is paying to give people that committed very serious crimes that are in federal prisons, sex change procedures that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.’

‘When you go to prison, you have to lose some rights, and it was an issue that really resonated,’ he continued. ‘Trump gets so much credit. I have heard from several people that that maniac-madman-genius actually came up with that closing line of, ‘Kamala Harris is for they/them, Donald Trump’s for you.’ He’s so good at the branding.’

Schilling said there was record-breaking fundraising for his organization this year, noting a 50% increase from the previous year, growing from $12 million to $18 million. He highlighted that this funding has driven extensive research, ad production, and messaging guidance, which has reportedly influenced Republicans to focus on transgender issues in campaign ads. 

According to Schilling, Republicans spent over $215 million on ads targeting transgender issues.

Last year, Schilling’s organization produced an ad featuring women’s activist Riley Gaines advocating for candidate Daniel Cameron against Democrat Andy Beshear for governor in Kentucky. 

In August 2023, APP released a post-2022 election report, titled, ‘The Failed Red Wave: Lessons from the GOP Letdown,’ arguing that Republicans performed poorly in part because they failed to take advantage of Democrats’ cultural extremism on transgender issues.

This summer, APP announced an $18 million ad campaign exposing Kamala Harris and other Democrats’ stances on transgender issues.

‘We spent over seven figures on polling and focus groups and message testing, and we’ve been passing it out, beating our heads against the wall with candidates up and down the ballot. And 2024 was the year that it finally broke through,’ Schilling said. 

The ads came during a time during the election cycle where several actions by the Biden-Harris administration gave the messaging a boost. 

In June, health officials in the Biden administration urged international transgender health nonprofit, World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), to omit the age limit in its guidelines for transgender surgical procedures for adolescents – and succeeded – according to unsealed court documents.

More than a dozen states in the U.S. have enacted bans on surgical procedures and hormonal prescriptions for transgender youth. 

Idaho, North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama have passed laws making it a felony to perform sex changes on children. Several blue states, meanwhile, have enacted ‘sanctuary state’ laws in recent years shielding medical providers from facing penalties for conducting transgender procedures on adolescents. 

Trump’s success in reaching people in this issue hasn’t come without its opposition. The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union pledged ‘to combat’ the forthcoming Trump administration’s proposed policies on critical issues such as abortion, border security and LGBTQ rights.

The left-wing civil liberties organization launched 434 legal challenges against President Trump during his first term, and will continue during his second term, according to Romero’s open letter. They plan, for example, to use the courts to ‘invalidate Trump administration policies’ impacting the gay and transgender communities, such as actions that keep biological males out of women’s bathrooms or that prevent them from playing on women’s sports teams.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is in contention for a role in the new Trump administration, Fox News Digital is told.

Stefanik became the first congressional leader to back President-elect Donald Trump’s third White House campaign when she endorsed him in November 2022.

She is now being discussed as a potential candidate for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, two people familiar with such discussions told Fox News Digital.

One said Stefanik was ‘high on the list’ of potential candidates.

However, for Stefanik and other House lawmakers in contention for Trump administration roles, their chances will depend heavily on where the majority falls in their chamber.

Republicans are bullish about keeping the House majority after victories in the Senate and White House on election night, however, the outcome will likely come down to a handful of close races in California, Arizona, Alaska and Oregon – and both sides anticipate the margin being close.

Replacing a House member, even one from a district that heavily favors one party or the other, generally takes at least several weeks. Additionally, Republican leaders have already signaled they would not want to waste any time in using their majorities in Congress to forward Trump’s agenda.

It is not immediately clear who else is in contention for the UN ambassador role.

Stefanik would have familiarity with foreign affairs as a senior member of the House permanent select committee on Intelligence and the House Armed Services Committee.

The New York Republican has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas. She is also one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, having headlined multiple ‘Women for Trump’ rallies and other events for him on the campaign trail.

Stefanik announced to House colleagues on Thursday that she is running for her current leadership role as chair of the House GOP conference again.

Stefanik’s office did not return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Notably, one of Trump’s prior U.N. ambassadors was Nikki Haley, who challenged the president-elect for the 2024 Republican nomination before dropping out and eventually endorsing him.

Fox News Digital was also told that another House member, retired Green Beret Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., is in consideration for a Trump administration role. Waltz is being looked at as a potential candidate for Defense secretary, though Trump is also considering options from the private sector and others, Fox News Digital was told.

In addition to serving in the military before coming to Congress, Waltz was an advisor to Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld and spent time in the private sector as CEO of defense contractor Metis Solutions.

He is currently on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees with Stefanik, in addition to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Waltz’s office did not respond to an email requesting comment.

Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital when asked for comment about the possible appointments, ‘President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made.’

: The House Judiciary Committee is concerned that special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors involved in the investigations of now President-elect Donald Trump will ‘purge’ records to skirt oversight and is demanding they produce to Congress all documents related to the probes before the end of the month, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., penned a letter to Smith on Friday, obtained by Fox News Digital. 

‘The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing its oversight of the Department of Justice and the Office of Special Counsel. According to recent public reports, prosecutors in your office have been ‘gaming out legal options’ in the event that President Donald Trump won the election,’ they wrote. ‘With President Trump’s decisive victory this week, we are concerned that the Office of Special Counsel may attempt to purge relevant records, communications, and documents responsive to our numerous requests for information.’ 

Jordan and Loudermilk warned that the Office of Special Counsel ‘is not immune from transparency or above accountability for its actions.’ 

‘We reiterate our requests, which are itemized in the attached appendix and incorporated herein, and ask that you produce the entirety of the requested material as soon as possible but no later than November 22, 2024,’ they wrote. 

Jordan and Loudermilk are demanding Smith turn over information about the use of FBI personnel on his team — a request first made in June 2023 — and whether any of those FBI employees ‘previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump.’ 

They also renewed their request from August 2023, demanding records relating to Smith and prosecutor Jay Bratt visiting the White House or Executive Office of the President; a request from September 2023 for records related to lawyer Stanley Woodward—who represented Trump aide Walt Nauta; a request from December 2023 for communications between Attorney General Merrick Garland and the special counsel’s team; and more. 

The Justice Department is looking to wind down two federal criminal cases against President-elect Trump as he prepares to be sworn in for a second term in the White House — a decision that upholds a long-standing policy that prevents Justice Department attorneys from prosecuting a sitting president. 

DOJ officials have cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president. 

It further notes that such proceedings would ‘unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the Presidency.’  

‘In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, ‘an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office,’’ the memo said in conclusion.

Smith was leading an investigation into the alleged retention of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from that probe. 

The case was eventually tossed completely by a federal judge in Florida, who ruled that Smith was improperly and unlawfully appointed as special counsel. 

Smith also took over an investigation into alleged 2020 election interference. Trump also pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue on the basis of presidential immunity. 

The high court ruled that Trump was immune from prosecution for official presidential acts, forcing Smith to file a new indictment. Trump pleaded not guilty to those new charges as well. Trump attorneys are now seeking to have the election interference charges dropped in Washington, D.C., similarly alleging that Smith was appointed unlawfully. 

Former White House attorney Mark Paoletta took to social media Thursday to say that President-elect Donald Trump ‘will not use the DOJ for political purposes’ but rather for ‘implementing his agenda.’

Paoletta, who previously served as counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence and general counsel for the Office of Management & Budget in the executive office during the Trump administration, was responding to a CNN reporter stating that the Department of Justice has ‘operated historically as an independent entity.’ 

‘Constitution vests our ELECTED President with ALL executive power, including DOJ. He has the duty to supervise DOJ, including, if necessary, on specific cases. Our system does not permit an unaccountable agency,’ Paoletta wrote on X. 

Paoletta cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion in Trump v. United States, wherein the Court held that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts. In the majority opinion, Roberts wrote ‘the Constitution vests the entirety of the executive power in the President.’

He went on to say, ‘The President has a duty to supervise the types of cases DOJ should focus on and can intervene to direct DOJ on specific cases. He is the duly elected chief executive and he has every right to make sure the executive branch, including the DOJ, is implementing his agenda.’

Paoletta then gave examples as to how Trump could use the DOJ during his next term, including directing the ‘DOJ to significantly increase resources to prosecute criminals at the highest charging level and to seek maximum sentences’ and extending resources towards deportation efforts and ‘against sanctuary cities who defy and obstruct federal law enforcement efforts.’

Paoletta clarified, however, that despite such actions, Trump will not use the DOJ ‘for political purposes.’

‘Just because you are a political opponent’ does not mean one gets ‘a free pass if you have violated the law,’ Paoletta wrote.

Paoletta then said Democrats, in contrast, ‘went after President Trump solely to punish him because he was a political opponent,’ stating that they ‘invented crimes, twisted statutes, abused their offices and power, all to stop him and destroy him.’

‘The President should supervise and direct the DOJ to implement his agenda, which was voted on and supported by a landslide majority of the American people on November 5th,’ Paoletta wrote. 

The DOJ announced on Wednesday it was seeking to wind down two federal criminal cases against Trump ahead of his second term.  

Justice Department officials cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president. 

Trump was also prosecuted at the state level after his first term in office, aside from the two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump pleaded not guilty in all of his cases. 

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

A Donald Trump presidency is sure to have reverberations at the United Nations (U.N.), and first on the chopping block could be its funding. 

The U.N. currently relies on the U.S. for about a third of its budget. President Biden increased U.S. financial contributions to the U.N., boosting it from $11.6 billion in 2020 to $18.1 billion in 2022. This gives a new administration wiggle room to withhold funds to the U.N. if its global interests do not align with the U.S.’, a notion some Republicans have already pushed for. 

The U.S. gave about three times as much that year as the next-highest contributors, Germany at $6.8 billion and Japan at $2.7 billion. 

‘They will have to recalibrate now very much again in the Trump administration that will, I believe, be much more attentive, engaged and monitoring of the U.N.,’ predicted Hugh Dugan, a longtime member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. 

‘There are teams there that have been sleepwalking the last few years without U.S. pressure on accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.’

Trump will be in office when the international body elects its next secretary general in 2026, and the U.S. will have veto power over any candidate. 

‘Over the next year and a half, it’s going to make an effort to look more managerially competent to avoid some of the stern green eyes seated across here – attention that Elon Musk and the Trump team will want to bring to the consideration of the secretary general selection.’

Trump would also likely once again withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and the U.N. Global Compact on Migration. 

The U.N. particularly relies on the U.S. for global aid programs. In 2022, it provided half of all contributions to the World Food Programme, and about a third of all contributions to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the International Organization for Migration.

‘There’s no doubt the U.N. is frightened and horrified,’ of Trump taking office, said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch. 

‘We’re going to see budget cuts,’ he said. ‘The most memorable being UNRWA.’ 

Trump cut funding to the organization that distributes aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Biden led the U.S. in reinstating that aid and earmarking $1 billion for UNRWA – before freezing that aid when it was revealed that some employees had links to Hamas. 

‘I would say the Human Rights Office, which is based in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council, America gives voluntary funds to that bureaucracy. I could see that being cut,’ Neuer said. 

Some wonder whether Trump and a Republican-led Congress might try to withdraw the U.S. from the U.N. entirely. The GOP-controlled House passed a spending bill in June that would eliminate funding for the U.N.’s regular budget.

However, despite an adversarial tone toward global institutions, Trump is not expected to stop dealing with the U.N. altogether. In his first administration, he enjoyed a good relationship with Secretary General António Guterres, inviting him to the White House, and seemed to enjoy his yearly address to the General Assembly and the pageantry of world leaders traipsing through the New York City headquarters. 

‘He engaged personally up there quite a lot. And during the opening of the General Assembly, he brought the White House up there, frankly, and lived up there for that week every year and operated. He recognizes the value of the organization, if just as a meeting place,’ said Dugan.

Trump could also seek to push candidates for leadership over agencies like UNICEF and the World Food Programme that challenge U.N. orthodoxy and encourage American employment across the agency to counter China’s growing influence. 

China doubled the number of its nationals employed at the U.N. to nearly 15,000 from 2009 to 2021. 

‘This was very much in the mind of the Trump administration when I worked in the White House that China’s growing its influence in subtle and not so subtle ways throughout the organization, affording it a globalized platform of legitimacy that they’re ready and willing to exploit to their national ends,’ said Dugan. 

‘The U.S. has to study the terrain of the organization better and identify, in particular, the key posts and influential offices that we should show up with our best talent and make sure that we are effective. The Chinese have been doing that really well.’

Additionally, though the Biden administration did buck a number of U.N. resolutions that targeted Israel, he was naturally more supportive of international organizations as a whole. 

President-elect Donald Trump made history twice this week, first by winning the White House for a second time as a former president, and then by naming Susie Wiles to be his chief of staff.

Wiles, a longtime GOP operative and advisor to Trump, will be the first woman to hold that coveted position in American history. By all accounts, she has earned it. Wiles is credited with tightening up Trump’s campaign operations after his 2020 loss and helping him win both the Electoral College and national popular vote in 2024 – an achievement that has eluded Republican candidates for president for 20 years.

‘Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,’ Trump said in a statement on Thursday, announcing her White House appointment. 

‘Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud,’ he said. 

However, while Wiles is known, respected and even feared in Florida, she is not well-known in Washington, D.C., and certainly not nationally. So who is Susie Wiles? Here are five things to know about the next White House chief of staff: 

Her father was a legendary NFL broadcaster, and she helped him overcome addiction

Wiles is the daughter of late legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall. Summerall was an NFL champion kicker and the lead color commentator alongside John Madden on CBS for more than two decades.

During his broadcast career, Summerall admitted to becoming an alcoholic. In his 2006 biography, he recounted how his daughter, Susie, staged an intervention for him and helped him break addiction.

‘Dad, the few times we’ve been out in public together recently, I’ve been ashamed we shared the same last name,’ Wiles said in a letter that was read during the intervention, according to Summerall’s 2006 autobiography, ‘On and Off the Air.’

Summerall wrote that the words of his daughter inspired him to take steps to address his addiction. 

Her first job in politics was with her father’s old teammate

In the late 1970s, Wiles was hired as an assistant to Summerall’s old teammate on the New York Giants, someone who went on to have a long and successful career in the House of Representatives and later be nominated for vice president. That was none other than the late Jack Kemp, one of the chief backers of former President Ronald Reagan’s supply-side economics theories and architect of the Regan tax cuts. 

Wiles went on to work for Reagan himself as a scheduler for his 1980 presidential campaign and later the White House. She left Washington, D.C., for Florida in the 1990s and served as chief of staff to John Delaney, the mayor of Jacksonville. She also worked as the district director for Rep. Tillie Fowler in Northeast Florida. 

Delaney heaped praise on Wiles in an interview for Politico Magazine. ‘I’ve described her as a political savant — just otherworldly sort of political instincts,’ he said. 

Wiles continued to be a fixture of Florida politics for decades, eventually helping a health care executive named Rick Scott become governor in 2010. Scott is now Florida’s junior senator and this week is celebrating his re-election to a second term. 

She once described herself as a ‘card-carrying member of the GOP establishment,’ but supported Trump

Wiles has worked for every stripe of Republican imaginable, from moderate to hard-line conservative. However, she surprised her friends and allies when, in 2015, she decided to become the Trump campaign’s co-chairwoman in Florida. 

‘As a card-carrying member of the G.O.P. establishment, many thought my full-throated endorsement of the Trump candidacy was ill advised — even crazy,’ Wiles told the New York Times in a rare public statement. 

Though faced with skepticism, Wiles explained to the Tampa Bay Times at the time that she believed no other Republican running for the presidency in 2016 was prepared to deliver the change she felt Washington, D.C., needed. She said national Republicans had developed ‘an expediency culture’ and lost sight of core principles. 

‘I said, ‘I don’t want this to continue.’ I think it seriously will damage our republic and who among that group can really have the fortitude to shift what I’ve seen happening over all these years?’ Wiles told the paper.

It turned out that her instincts were right. Trump won the primary and shocked the political establishment by defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in an upset. 

She helped Ron DeSantis become governor before a falling out

In 2018, a young Florida congressman named Ron DeSantis decided to run for governor. He won a contested Republican primary thanks to Trump’s endorsement, but his campaign was struggling and behind in the polls.

With a little more than a month before the election, DeSantis hired Wiles to right the ship. Her guidance is largely credited with pushing DeSantis over the finish line in a narrow victory over disgraced former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

However, a rift grew between DeSantis and Wiles after the election. Politico reported that state first lady Casey DeSantis was suspicious of Wiles’ growing influence and power in the governor’s orbit. Eventually, Wiles was edged out of DeSantis’ inner circle.

She wound up back in Trump’s orbit for his unsuccessful 2020 campaign and remained a close and valued advisor as he plotted a return to the White House in 2024. She was with the Trump campaign when DeSantis mounted his own campaign for president, and many suspect Trump’s team used Wiles’ insider knowledge of DeSantis to defeat the Florida governor.

In January, Wiles responded to a report on X that DeSantis had cleared his campaign website of upcoming events.

‘Bye, bye,’ she wrote. 

She is a registered lobbyist

In addition to her work on political campaigns, Wiles is a registered lobbyist. 

Federal disclosures filed in April show Wiles was a lobbyist for the tobacco company Swisher International while running the Trump campaign. The documents show she worked to influence Congress on ‘FDA regulations.’ 

WIles is the co-chair for the Florida and Washington, D.C., offices of Mercury Public Affairs, a lobbying firm whose clients include AirBnB, AT&T, eBay, Pfizer, Tesla, and the Embassy of Qatar, although she is not a registered lobbyist for any of those clients. 

Previously, Wiles worked for Ballard Partners, a Florida-based firm started by lobbyist Brian Ballard. 

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrats are reportedly discussing whether to call on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to immediately resign in an effort to avoid her replacement potentially being made under the President-elect Donald Trump, Politico reports.

Democrats lost their Senate majority to Republicans in the 2024 election, which, according to one Democratic senator, prompted discussion over whether to initiate an immediate replacement of Sotomayor, 70, during their remaining two months in control of the chamber.

The concerns stem from the possibility of Trump filling her seat if it happens to become vacant during his presidency – but with the former president taking office in just two months, any proponents of a quick turnaround replacement have a short window to act.

‘She can sort of resign conditionally on someone being appointed to replace her,’ a Democratic senator told Politico Playbook. ‘But she can’t resign conditioned on a specific person. What happens if she resigns and the nominee to replace her isn’t confirmed, and the next president fills the vacancy?’

The Democrat also told the outlet that there remain two top concerns about the idea: confirming a new justice under Congress’ already packed schedule and whether any members would be willing to go on the record against Sotomayor.

Proponents of the idea would have to guarantee enough Senate votes to ensure a quick confirmation before Trump takes office, which one source told Playbook, could face a potential roadblock from members such as retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., if they do not support the replacement.

Those discussing a potential replacement for Sotomayor are already eyeing D.C. Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2009.

The Democrats are also considering focusing their remaining time in leadership on the appointment of lower-court judges waiting to be confirmed.