As the basis for this claim the newscaster, Alayna Treene, cites Donald Trump's post on the platform X that states, "Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!" Treene states that this post highlights his support for recess appointments, a process by which temporary appointments are made by the President while the chamber is out of session and occur without the chamber’s formal seal of approval. Trump states that any Senate leader candidates should allow recess appointments in order to accelerate the process of confirmation, and in doing so, could potentially go around the Senate's confirmation process to elect an unpopular nominee, a maneuver used by President Obama to elect three nominees. When created, recess appointments were intended to speed up decisions only when Congress was in recess for 10 days or longer (New York Times). Now, however, Congress is in session nearly year round (Congressional Research Service). Obama's use of recess appointments were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, as the Senate was not truly in recess, which has halted the further use of recess appointments (Politico). Trump's use of the wording "get people confirmed in a timely manner" implies that he seeks to confirm his cabinet as quickly as possible, be it with or without the Senate. Especially as the Supreme Court's verdict on recess appointments used to evade Congressional permission was deemed unconstitutional, there is a reason there are rules implemented on the use of recess appointments. While the original claim itself is very possible and implied in Trump's post, I do, however, find Treene's claim that prevention of recess appointments in Congress has been implemented and respected throughout Bush's and Obama's presidencies slightly misleading, as the two of them held many recess appointments, to the Senate's displeasure (Congressional Research Service). Overall, the claim made by the video are true, even if some other claims made are slightly misleading.
1. https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/defying-republicans-obama-to-name-cordray-as-consumer-agency-chief/
2. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/10/trump-presses-next-republican-senate-leader-recess-appointments-00188640
3. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/RS21308#:~:text=A%20discussion%20of%20the%20clause,also%20supported%20this%20general%20notion%2C
