WASHINGTON • U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, who has expressed outspoken reservations about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, said Wednesday she is “encouraged” by what she heard from Trump’s list of possible Supreme Court nominees.
Speaking after a press conference to urge the Justice Department to more vigorously prosecute sex trafficking, Wagner, R-Ballwin, said she had not yet decided to endorse Trump. But she cited Trump’s Supreme Court list to declare: “We are encouraged.” His list, released last week, had 11 possible court nominees including Missouri federal appeals court Judge Raymond Gruender.
“I am certainly not supporting Hillary Clinton,” Wagner said, adding that she is going to “wait and see” on Trump.
Wagner’s comments come in the midst of reports that House Speaker Paul Ryan may be deciding to end an endorsement standoff with Trump. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that, while Ryan had not made a decision to endorse the billionaire businessman, Ryan is telling confidants he “wants to end his standoff with Donald Trump in part because he’s worried the split has sharpened divisions in the Republican Party.”
Wagner’s comments Wednesday were more conciliatory than her previous assessment of Trump. Last year, angered over detrimental comments Trump had made about former Vietnam POW and Arizona Sen. John McCain, Wagner gave a $1,000 campaign donation from Trump to a suburban St. Louis VFW.
Earlier this month, Wagner said that Trump’s “slurs and attacks” bothered her, and she said the presumptive nominee would have to earn her support.
Wednesday, Wagner said that Trump’s Supreme Court list — praised among some conservatives — had made her encouraged.
On another topic, Wagner said she agreed with Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald should resign following remarks earlier this week. McDonald invoked waiting lines at Disney theme parks to argue that waiting lines for appointments at VA hospitals should not be the crux of how the government’s treatment of veterans is judged.
Wagner cited the VA’s inability to fill the top slot at the St. Louis hospital for almost three years as reason enough, alone, that McDonald should go.
“We have met, we have written … we have demanded that they have a permanent director,” Wagner said. “There can never be improvement unless there is continuity there.”
McDonald, who Tuesday apologized for the Disney analogy, told the Post-Dispatch the VA was close to hiring a permanent St. Louis top administrator. Wagner called that “hollow words.”
Her comments came after a press conference in which a bipartisan group of House members urged the Justice Department to more aggressively enforce a bill that toughens penalties for sex traffickers and customers. The bill, passed a year ago this week, also sets up funds to help victims from fines and other proceeds.
Wagner said the Department of Justice has aggressively enforced provisions to help minors held in “sex slavery.” But she and other prime sponsors of the legislation are concerned DOJ has not gotten tough enough on customers of the illegal sex.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who along with Wagner and others, pushed through the anti-trafficking legislation, said that customers are a “group that has gotten away with this for far too long.
“They are not ‘johns,’” Poe said, referring to a term sometimes used to describe clients of illegal sex. “John was in the Bible.”
“This fight is far from over,” Wagner said.
Chuck Raasch • 202-298-6880
@craasch on Twitter
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