President Donald Trump gave Senate Republicans permission to begin their August recess Saturday night, shortly before Democratic and Republican leaders agreed to quickly vote on seven final civilian nominees but none of the more than 100 still pending on the calendar.
The agreement allowed for votes to begin on cloture and confirmation of the nominees without debate. Among those confirmed under the deal was Jeanine Pirro, who was nominated by Trump to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
The directive from Trump took pressure off of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to clear the executive calendar and confirm all of Trump’s pending nominees before the recess.
