(NBC) Facing a potentially devastating Democratic defection in the Senate, the White House is ramping up its fight to confirm an embattled judicial nominee who would be the first Muslim American to serve as a U.S. federal appeals court judge.
The White House is touting a wave of new law enforcement endorsements for Adeel Mangi to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, building on seven similar organizations that have already backed Mangi, in an attempt to counter what it describes as a Republican-led smear campaign predicated on his religion.
“Some Senate Republicans and their extreme allies are relentlessly smearing Adeel Mangi with baseless accusations that he is anti-police,” White House chief of staff Jeff Zients said in a statement to NBC News. “That could not be further from the truth, and the close-to-a-dozen law enforcement organizations that have endorsed him agree.”
