Hillary Clinton had originally expected to stick with a more tempered statement she had released earlier. | Getty Clinton blasts McConnell for dissing Obama on SCOTUS

Hillary Clinton slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell late Saturday for saying he wouldn't even consider voting on an White House replacement for Antonin Scalia — casting McConnell's rebuke as an act of deep disrespect for President Obama.

Clinton – tapping into a roiling reservoir of resentment among African-American voters over the GOP's treatment of Obama – called the Kentucky Republican’s pledge, released an hour after Scalia’s death was confirmed, “totally out of step with history and Constitutional principles.”


Speaking at an event in Denver – but targeting her remarks at voters in the majority-minority South Carolina primary on Feb. 27 – Clinton defended her 2008 opponent at a time when she is increasingly linking her legacy to his. “Barack Obama is president of the United States until January 20, 2017,” she said, as the audience roared. “That is a fact, my friends. Whether the Republicans like it or not, elections have consequences. The president has the responsibility to nominate a new justice and the Senate has a responsibility to vote on” the nominee.

Clinton had expected to stick with a more tempered statement she had released earlier. But she grew agitated when an aide backstage told her that Marco Rubio and Donald Trump had urged McConnell to “delay” acting on the nomination — and decided to “let it rip” about three minutes before taking the podium at the Colorado Convention Center, according to one senior aide.

Clinton scoffed at McConnell’s suggestion that the Senate simply didn’t have enough time to consider a Scalia replacement. Speaking several hours after McConnell released his statement, she pointed out that the longest confirmation process, the marathon fight over Clarence Thomas in 1991 lasted 100 days — a third of the time left in Obama’s second term.

In recent days, Clinton – buoyed by supportive Obama remarks – has criticized opponent Bernie Sanders for endangering the president’s record on health care by criticizing the Affordable Care Act. On Saturday, Sanders issued a brief statement about Scalia and didn’t immediately address McConnell’s statement. “While I differed with Justice Scalia’s views and jurisprudence, he was a brilliant, colorful and outspoken member of the Supreme Court,” the Vermont senator wrote.

Clinton, speaking to a gathering of Colorado Democrats in a state where Sanders is believed to enjoy a slight edge, also offered her “thoughts and prayers” for the family of the outspoken 79-year-old conservative.

But she also made a pitch for Democrats to take back of the Senate, saying the majority leader’s comments were “a reminder” of how much is at stake in both House and Senate contests.