Bush: Republicans should confirm Lynch

Jeb Bush says that the Senate should confirm the nomination of Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general. A number of Senate Republicans oppose her nomination.

“I think presidents have the right to pick their team,” Bush said, according to reports of his stop at the “Politics and Pie” forum in Concord, New Hampshire, on Thursday night.


The former Florida governor made sure to get in a few digs at current Attorney General Eric Holder, saying that Republicans should consider that the longer it takes to confirm Lynch, the longer Holder stays.

A Senate fight over a sex-trafficking bill that includes a controversial abortion provision has held up Lynch’s nomination for 160 days since Obama announced his choice last Nov. 8, but Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is threatening to break protocol and force a vote on the Senate floor.

“If someone is supportive of the president’s policies, whether you agree with them or not, there should be some deference to the executive,” Bush told reporters. “It should not always be partisan.”

Alluding to the two families to have produced the most presidents, Bush joked that he is not trying to break a tie between his family and the Adamses. (John Adams was the 2nd president, from 1797-1801; his son, John Quincy Adams, was the 6th president, from 1825-1829.)

“That really isn’t my motivation,” Bush said, “but I have to prove that.”

Bush also took a shot at Hillary Clinton’s trip to Chipotle, saying that he cooks at home and that he doesn’t need to go to the fast-casual chain — though sometimes he does.

“Do I go there? Yeah, I go there. The one on US 1. Drive my own car, park my own car, get out of my own car,” he said, according to ABC News, in an apparent reference to Clinton’s stopover in Maumee, Ohio, earlier this week. “Get Chipotle, take it home.”

Bush broke with his strict paleo diet of several months to partake in some blueberry pie at the event.

“To hell with the diet,” he said, according to reports. “Where are the french fries?”

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