Obama: It will be difficult for McConnell to explain blocking nominee

President Barack Obama said Wednesday it would be “difficult” for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain his decision to withhold consideration for a Supreme Court nominee without looking politically motivated. “Let’s see how the public responds to the nominee we put forward,” Obama said. Speaking in the Oval Office, Obama suggested Republicans in Congress are under pressure from the right wing of their party to block the White House’s judicial moves. He said he was “sympathetic” to their plight. He said none of the country’s founding fathers believed a president should stop fulfilling his constitutional duties in his final year in office, and argued that Republicans risked damaging the ability of any president to appoint judges if they proceed with blocking the Supreme Court pick. Obama was speaking alongside Jordanian King Abdullah, who is in Washington for meetings on ISIS.