How Trump accidentally helped get several of Biden’s judges confirmed

As Democrats fight to confirm President Joe Biden's judicial nominees before President-Elect Donald Trump takes the White House in January, GOP lawmakers have been fighting to halt the process.

According to a Wednesday International Business Times report, "Republican senators warned that Donald Trump was hurting their progress by taking some members of Congress to watch the SpaceX launch, causing them to miss votes."

IBT notes that in addition to Senators JD Vance (R-OH) — who is exiting the Senate to serve as Trump's vice president, and Marco Rubio (R-FL) — who Trump selected for the role of Secretary of State, missing "the opportunity to cast their votes Tuesday," other lawmakers were absent as well.

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Per the report, top Republicans shared "their frustrations," according to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio.

On Wednesday, Desiderio wrote via X: "News — During closed-door Senate GOP lunch, lots of anger at Vance & Rubio for missing votes on Biden judicial nominees who could’ve otherwise been defeated with a mix of Dem absences, [Senator Joe] Manchin (I-WV) as wild card & VP [Kamala] Harris being in Hawaii. But other GOP senators were also absent yesterday, and a few are with Trump today for the SpaceX launch."

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International Business Times' full report is available at this link.