Politicians and political pundits on both sides of the aisle are voicing frustration with President Trump’s nominees who will not say that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election or that Trump cannot run again under the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution.
As seen below at the Senate Judiciary hearing on Friday for Trump’s pick for a federal judge position in the Southern District of Texas, John Marck, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) asked Marck if President Trump was eligible to run again for President in 2028.
Marck repeatedly shrugged as he replied, “Senator, without knowing all the facts and looking at everything, depending on what the situation is, this to me strikes as more of a hypothetical.”
Coons interrupted: “It’s not a hypothetical. Has President Trump been elected President twice?” Marck said, “President Trump has been certified the President of the United States two times.” Coons asked again, “Is he eligible to run for a third term under our Constitution?”
I’ve always thought judicial nominees play it too safe at hearings, are overly coached by the WH, and that the Senate should expect more. Still, this is getting ridiculous. https://t.co/RcKA4gEQgj
— Gregg Nunziata (@greggnunziata) May 4, 2026
John Marck said, “I would have to review,” before Coons interrupted, citing the “clear language” in the Constitution (the 22nd Amendment) which confirms that Trump, like any other twice-elected president, is not eligible to run for president again.
Critics of the Trump administration, including Alliance of Justice, find Marck’s refusal to answer the question troubling. Commenting on the exchange, the Alliance wrote Marck “refused to answer Senator @ChrisCoons’s question of whether President Trump is eligible to run for president in 2028. This isn’t a trick question – it’s in the Constitution. If you can’t say a president can’t serve a third term, you shouldn’t be a federal judge.”
Conservative former DOJ attorney Gregg Nunziata, who as chief nominations counsel to Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee played a key strategic role in the confirmation proceedings for several federal judges, replied: “I’ve always thought judicial nominees play it too safe at hearings, are overly coached by the WH, and that the Senate should expect more. Still, this is getting ridiculous.”
HOT MIC: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was caught asking staff during questioning of Trump judicial nominees: “What would be wrong if they said Biden won?” Multiple people in the room heard it. GOP staffers were reportedly panicking, according to sources familiar. pic.twitter.com/GIaq1LUIVs
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 29, 2026
Also last week, when Trump’s pick for Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh, was asked if Joe Biden had won the 2020 election and gave the familiar Trump nominee response that Biden was “certified” president, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was heard asking one of his aides, “What would be wrong if they said Biden won?”
[NOTE: Ted Brown, who is running as a Libertarian in the heated Senate race in Texas against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, Republican incumbent John Cornyn and AG Ken Paxton, replied to Nunziata: “My favorite is when Clarence Thomas said during his confirmation hearing that he had never given much thought to the abortion issue!” (Thomas, who was nominated for the Supreme Court in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, was opposed by many women’s groups and civil rights groups based on his conservative political views.)]