Fact check: In 2016, Trump didn't tweet about replacing Scalia on Supreme Court
The claim: In 2016, President Trump tweeted that Obama 'should wait until he leaves office' to pick a Supreme Court justice
Despite calls from Democrats to delay the process until after the election, President Donald Trump has said he will announce a nominee to the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Some who appear to oppose that have shared a tweet on Facebook and Instagram that attempts to levy the president's own words against him.
The tweet claims to be from April 2016, the midst of a battle between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans over confirming nominee Judge Merrick Garland to the high court in the months leading up to the presidential election.
"Obama should wait until he leaves office to pick another Justice! If he doesn't, he should be fired," the tweet reads.
The only issue? It isn't real.
Users who posted the tweet did not respond to requests from USA TODAY for comment.
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No record of tweet in archive of tweets from Trump
Searches for the text of the tweet reveal there is no record of it in the Trump Twitter Archive. It also does not appear under a search of tweets on the day it purports to have been sent — April 3, 2016.
In fact, beyond a tweet about his death, Trump never took to Twitter to address the contentious fight to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
The only tweet that comes up under the search "Garland," for example, is about Judy Garland, not Merrick Garland.
However, Trump did address the fight to fill Scalia's vacancy on Good Morning America in March 2016.
“I think they should wait until the next president and let the next president pick,” he said at the time, according to Politico.
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Our rating: False
Based on our research, the claim that President Donald Trump tweeted that Barack Obama "should wait until he leaves office to pick another Justice" is FALSE. Trump never tweeted that.
Our fact-check sources:
Trump Twitter Archive, Searches for: "Obama should wait until he leaves office to pick another Justice! If he doesn't, he should be fired," 04/03/2016, "Supreme Court," and "Merrick Garland."
Donald J. Trump, Feb. 13, 2016, tweet
USA TODAY, Sept. 22, President Donald Trump to announce Supreme Court nominee to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on Saturday
Politico, March 16, 2016, Trump: Senate should block Obama's Supreme Court nominee
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Trump didn't tweet about replacing Scalia on Supreme Court
