Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had to have a "painful" conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., about stepping down from being the Democrat leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In fact, because of Feinstein "seriously struggling" with cognitive decline at age 87, The New Yorker reported, Schumer had to have the conversation twice because she forgot it took place.
"It was like Groundhog Day, but with the pain fresh each time," a source told the magazine.
Feinstein is the eldest senator in Congress and the magazine noted the aging Democrats in the upper chamber pose a problem for the party, particularly with Republicans controlling at least 50 seats in the next Senate. Two more are to be decided in the Jan. 5 Georgia Senate runoffs.
Feinstein was roundly criticized for sharing a hug and a compliment with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., after the partisan nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett moved out of the committee.
Praising Graham for "one of the best set of hearings that I have participated in," was not the only reason Democrats called for her to step down as Democrats' ranking member of the Senate Judiciary.
Feinstein's struggles with short term memory, which reportedly has been an issue for several years, is a problem with her staff, too, per the report.
She "often forgets she has been briefed on a topic, accusing her staff of failing to do so just after they have," a source told The New Yorker.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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