What Exactly Went Down Between Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump?
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We already knew Trump had a shady relationship with retiring Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy’s son—who may have saved Trump’s bacon by lending him more than $1 billion during the recession in his capacity as head of real estate capital markets at Deutsche Bank—and that the administration essentially nudged the elder Kennedy off the court to ensure they’d get to pick his replacement. But things got even more interesting this morning with this tweet by NBC reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell:
The tweet has since been deleted, and Caldwell followed up with these clarifications:
I’ve deleted this tweet because it incorrectly implies a transactional nature in Kennedy’s replacement. I am told by a source who was not directly part of the talks that Kennedy provided Pres. Trump/ WH a list of acceptable replacements. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/ptxJmrbH9S
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) July 10, 2018
Kavanaugh was the only one who was thought conservative enough to consider, I’m told. They added Kavanaugh – and 4 other names – to the public Federalist list that Trump would choose from in November. We are continuing to report this story. (2/2)
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) July 10, 2018
Caldwell says she deleted the old tweet because it “incorrectly implies a transactional nature,” but the two tweets she put up instead…also imply a transaction between Kennedy and Trump.
For what it’s worth, that would make sense—if you want to boot a guy off the court, it makes sense that he might want something in return. Like, say, his former law clerk getting his spot. Moreover, this: