Montana state auditor charged in a statement on Friday that Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) stood with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over Montanans to oppose Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Sen. Tester announced on Friday that he will oppose Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, citing Kavanaugh’s alleged beliefs on privacy, campaign finance, andthe allegations of sexually assault against him.
Rosendale charged in a statement on Friday that Montanans should not be surprised by this announcement; he said that Tester has frequently sided with Senate Minority Leader Schumer over Montanans.
Rosendale said:
No one should be surprised by this. We always knew Jon Tester was never going to vote for Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Time and time again, Tester stands with Chuck Schumer and Washington Democrats over the people of Montana. Tester has opposed both of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees and supported all of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, including Sonia Sotomayor who said, ‘The right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right.’
“We can’t trust Jon Tester on the Second Amendment. If you support President Trump and want to protect our Second Amendment Rights then the choice is clear this November,” Rosendale added.
Instead of trying to honestly evaluate Kavanaugh based on his merits, Rosendale said that the Senate Democrats have tried to destroy the nominee’s reputation and charged that the Senate should vote to confirm Kavanaugh right away.
Rosendale said on Thursday, “This 11th-hour political circus to destroy a good man’s reputation and hurt his family is disgraceful. The Senate should immediately vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”
The Montana Senate race has become increasingly competitive. A new poll released last week found that Tester and Rosendale are in a virtual tie at 44 percent each. Given that a majority of Montanans approve of Trump and that the president won the state by 20 points in the 2016 presidential election, Tester faces increasing pressure to vote for Kavanaugh rothe Supreme Court.
Given the increasingly competitive race, Rosendale told Breitbart News last week that Tester is not the same populist he once claimed to be.
“Montanans are ready for a change, and that’s exactly what these numbers are showing. Folks are seeing that Jon Tester is not the same man he once was,” Rosendale said. “Case in point, he’s the #1 recipient of lobbyist cash out of all 535 members of Congress.”