Our first interview at CPAC is with Senator Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), who says he was surprised by the Senate’s vote to block Debo Adegbile’s nomination to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Toomey, among the leaders of the effort to reject the nomination of Adegbile in part because of his role in the defense of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, says he expected one or two Democrats to vote against the nomination. Instead, seven Democrats voted with Republicans.
Toomey also discussed his relationship with gun owners after last year’s gun-purchase background-check proposal, cosponsored with Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.).