President Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that he would be OK if the GOP Senate leader invoked the nuclear option, in order to get his forthcoming Supreme Court pick through the Senate.

'Yes, I would,' Trump told Hannity, in an interview that will air in full tonight. 'I would. We have obstructionists.'

The president pointed to the case of Sen. Jeff Sessions, his attorney general pick, whose nomination is still plodding through the Senate.

'That's not fair to the man,' Trump complained.

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President Donald Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity that he was comfortable with GOP Senate leaders pulling the trigger for the 'nuclear option,' to help him get his Supreme Court pick through

President Donald Trump is said to favor three, male appeals court judges for the lifelong position, previously occupied by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia

He also didn't like how it took an additional few days for his CIA choice, Rep. Mike Pompeo, to get a full Senate vote.

'And they delayed him a number of days also, even though he was fully approved and voted on by, you know, I mean very, very great choice,' Trump went on. 'And why are they doing that?'

As it stands now with nominations for Supreme Court justices are subject to cloture, and so the votes of 60 senators are needed to end debate.

The 'nuclear option' would bring this threshold down to 50, allowing the Republican-majority Senate to easily push Trump's pick through.

Trump yesterday announced that he would be revealing his SCOTUS pick a week from today.

He said in a tweet: 'I will be making my Supreme Court pick on Thursday of next week. Thank you!'

Trump committed to having a name by the end of this week on Tuesday as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office, telling them a formal announcement would come 'sometime next week.'

'We have outstanding candidates and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice,' he said.

His spokesman later said it would be 'early' the week. The president said this morning that he'd settled on Thursday.

He's said to favor three, male appeals court judges for the permanent position.

Today Hannity asked Trump if the president's pick came from the list that was circulated during the campaign. 'The answer is yes,' the president replied.

The Fox News personality tried to get the president to give an additional hint, asking if his pick was an 'originalist,' which would make him in the same vein as the late Antonin Scalia, whose seat needs to be filled .

'I don't want to say that, you're going to see on Thursday,' Trump answered.

Trump held a closed-door session with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate panel, yesterday afternoon to discuss the matter.

The White House said he was meeting with Senate leaders from both sides of the political divide to get 'input on what they want' and 'any ideas that they have.'

Little appeared to change, despite the listening session, however, with Schumer vowing once again to fight any nominee he considers 'outside of the mainstream.'

Grassley said Trump's entire list of possible nominees fit the definition. Schumer's emphasis on the standard suggests they didn't, in his opinion.

He did not single out a specific candidate off Trump's initial list, which had 21 names, as more or less 'mainstream.'

The court has been operating with an even number of justices, eight, since Scalia's death in February of 2016.

Republicans prevented Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals from the District of Columbia, from getting a hearing or a vote as they hunkered down and hoped for a favorable result in the presidential election.

The vacancy became a wedge issue that motivated conservatives who didn't like Trump to get behind him rather than allow the bent of the court to become progressive.

Even before he was elected, Trump put out a definitive list of 21 candidates he would consider putting on the high court in Scalia's place.

It included Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, William Pryor of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thomas Hardiman of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lee said through a spokesman at the time that he was uninterested, and Trump has since whittled the list down to the other three - Gorsuch, Pryor and Hardiman - the Associated Press reported. Each one of them is white and male.

The LA Times says Trump has already settled on Gorsuch, 49, despite the White House's claim that yesterday's meeting will senators would be a listening session.

NEXT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE? Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is said to be leading Trump's short list

Gorsuch clerked for Byron White and Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He worked at a private practice in Washington, D.C. before taking a job at the Department of Justice.

He wasn't at DOJ for very long before George W. Bush appointed him to the appeals court, a position he was confirmed to by voice vote in the U.S. Senate.

If Trump is closing in on Gorsuch or someone else, his spokesman wouldn't say so Wednesday.

'The president has not whittled it down, at least not to the extent that he's willing to share with us,' White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

'Maybe in his mind he's got that going, but...he's going through the process.'

Grassley suggested that Trump was still considering names off the broader list.

'I told the President that he made a very good start with his list of 21 widely respected and mainstream judges,' Grassley said. 'I’m looking forward to learning who President Trump selects and the confirmation process ahead.'

Schumer has refused to comment publicly on specific names from Trump's larger list but has said more than once that Senate Democrats will oppose anyone they consider to be 'out of the mainstream' without explaining exactly what that is.

'I'm hopeful that President Trump may nominate someone who is mainstream and could get bipartisan support,' Schumer told CNN on Sunday. 'But if they don't, yes, we will fight it tooth and nail, as long as we have to.'

He said in a statement Tuesday night at the conclusion of his meeting with Trump, 'As I’ve said many times, I believe the President should pick a mainstream nominee who could earn bipartisan support for the vacant Supreme Court seat.

'I reiterated that view in our meeting today, and told him that Senate Democrats would fight any nominee that was outside of the mainstream.'

NEXT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE? William Pryor of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Thomas Hardiman of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are also said to be on Trump's shortlist

Senators in the meeting gave little away about the discussion afterward in their respective statements about Trump's thinking on the matter, but the discussion appeared to center on their respective interpretations of values and rulings that are within the 'mainstream.'

At a briefing with reporters earlier in the day Trump's spokesman, Spicer, said Trump would without a doubt 'appoint justices who protect our liberty and hold the highest regard for our Constitution.'

'He continues to carefully consider potential future justices based on their commitment to upholding these principles.'

Grassley later said he's looking for Trump to appoint someone who will 'adhere to the law and the Constitution.

'They must be committed to following the law, not making the law,' the Republican senator said.

The White House cast the meeting with lawmakers as an 'important opportunity for the president to consult with Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle on his potential choices for the bench.'

'The idea is to hear their input on what they want, how far he wants to extend himself on where he is on his thought process,' Spicer had said. 'But I think he wants to hear what they're looking for in a judge, maybe any ideas that they have.'

He was unwilling to say Wednesday how Trump's original list was received in the meeting, particularly by Democrats.

'He had very constructive and productive conversation with Senate leaders yesterday about the advice and consent role that they have, getting their ideas, the principles that they expect and he was sharing with them...the qualities and values that he expects in a judge to serve on the Supreme Court.

'I'm not gonna go further than that, but I would just say it was a very productive and constructive meeting,' Spicer said.

Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate, and they'll need every vote, plus eight more, to put Trump's nominee on the court unless McConnell abandons Senate tradition and does away with rules that require 60 votes for Supreme Court appointments.

Spicer wouldn't say on Tuesday whether Trump would encourage the Senate leader to take that position.

'I think that he's going to appoint a quality associate justice that hopefully will achieve overwhelming support,' he said.

'His goal is that he's going to choose someone who hopefully I think everybody recognizes is a jurist that's gonna adhere to the Constitution, and not legislate from the bench, that [should] achieve bipartisan support.'

Pressed for Trump's thoughts on McConnell embracing what's known as the 'nuclear option,' the White House spokesman said, 'I think we're early in this process. He's gonna hear from them tonight.'

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he was moving quickly.

'I’ll be making my decision this week, and we’ll be announcing next week,' he said, offering somewhat vague timing.

Spicer later said Trump would have a name 'by end of the week and an announcement early next week' following his talk with senators.