Traynor’s Tweets

President Trump nominated Daniel M. Traynor on September 19, 2019 to the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota.

In the past few years, Traynor has frequently taken to Twitter to criticize liberals on health care and immigration, spread right-wing conspiracy theories, and show his strong support for President Trump and his agenda.

We highlight some of Traynor’s twitter comments below because we believe greater scrutiny by the Senate is warranted; they demonstrate Traynor’s extreme partisanship, lack of judicial temperament, and raise questions regarding his ability to a be fair-minded and unbiased judge. This blog does not attempt to analyze the entirety of his record.

PRESIDENT TRUMP

• The day after President Trump was elected, Traynor tweeted, “It feels good to be deplorable. #MAGA.”
• Traynor regularly retweets Trump, including his comments criticizing the media: “Why doesn’t the failing @nytimes write the real story on the Clintons and women? The media is TOTALLY dishonest!”
• Traynor also retweeted Trump’s response to a Tucker Carlson segment about the South African government seizing land from white farmers: “I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers.”
• Traynor tweeted, in response to a lawsuit by Maryland and Washington, D.C., “Where was the Emoluments Clause suit when the Lincoln bedroom was for rent?”
• In response to questions asked by Lester Holt during a presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Traynor retweeted Ann Coulter: “So great that Lester isn’t wasting time on trivial issues like immigrants accepting welfare, taking jobs, killing Americans.”

HILLARY CLINTON

• Traynor tweeted “Hillary lies so much,” and retweeted a number of other people who also accused Clinton of dishonesty.
• In the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, Traynor retweeted “Hillary’s nastiness will only go over with our nasty media – American voters don’t like it.”
• Traynor retweeted a link to an article regarding Hillary Clinton that stated, “what a bad idea for a political party to knowingly nominate someone who is likely guilty of criminal offenses.”
• Traynor retweeted Michelle Malkin, who wrote, “Flashback: Hillary spreading pneumonia germs to a little girl & lying to press about her health.”
• Traynor retweeted Charlie Kirk, who wrote, “Trump got rich by creating phenomenal buildings and structures. Hillary got rich by selling out America to foreign adversaries.”

OTHER POLITICAL TWEETS

• In the lead up to the 2018 midterm elections, Traynor regularly tweeted his support for Kevin Cramer and his opposition to Heidi Heitkamp. In one instance, he retweeted an article that stated, “Please vote for @kevincramer for US Senate Election Day he supports #americafirst. @realDonaldTrump agenda #MAGA….Heitkamp’s embrace of illegal immigrants hit by Trump-aligned group.”
• Traynor tweeted his thanks to Donald Trump Jr. in the lead up to the 2018 midterm elections: “Thank you @DonaldTrumpJr and @kimguilfoyle for working so hard to elect @KevinCramer, @Armstrong_ND and Republicans across the country. The Trump Train is pulling the GOP.”
• Traynor retweeted Marco Rubio during a democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: “Two hours of this? Imagine four years.”
• Traynor retweeted, “@tedcruz does SNL-style Christmas skit to air during SNL.  Come for the Cruz family time, stay for the weird.”

FEDERAL JUDICIARY

• In a response to a tweet that is now unavailable, Traynor tweeted, “And a Federal Circuit Court Judge. That bunch are all drunks.” This tweet has since been deleted from his account.

HEALTH CARE

• Traynor retweeted, “’Terminally ill mom denied treatment coverage – but gets suicide drug approved’ # ObamaCare #DeathPanels have arrived!”

IMMIGRATION

• Traynor retweeted Senator Tom Cotton’s comment: “Dems’ Keep Families Together Act is better called the Child Trafficking Encouragement Act. Show up at Border with a minor & call him your child, then you get released into the US! Children will be abducted & sold to drug cartels & slave-traders as a free ticket to the US.”

GUNS

• Traynor retweeted Bill O’Reilly’s comment opposing gun safety measures: “The cop in London who confronted the knife-wielding terrorist yesterday was severely hurt because he was not allowed to carry a gun.”

JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH

• During Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s congressional hearings, Traynor tweeted a link to Ed Whalen’s conspiracy theory that challenged the testimony of Doctor Blasey Ford, who made credible allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh.  Traynor wrote: “Boom!  Read this.”  Whalen’s conspiracy theory had alleged, without any evidence, that Dr. Ford had confused Brett Kavanaugh with another Georgetown prep student.  Ed Whalen took a leave of absence after posting his Kavanaugh theory and apologized for the “appalling and inexcusable tweet thread” which Traynor retweeted.
• Traynor retweeted a video of President Trump attacking Senator Feinstein during the Kavanaugh hearings: “President @realDonaldTrump on @SenFeinstein’s response that she didn’t leak the Ford document: ‘That was really bad body language. Who knows, maybe she didn’t, but that was the worst body language I’ve ever seen.”
• Traynor tweeted “This is bizarre” in response to the American Bar Association’s announcement that they were reopening their evaluation of Brett Kavanaugh in light of the sexual assault allegations against him.
• Traynor retweeted a National Review article titled, “On The New Yorker’s Grossly Irresponsible Story.” The article was about the New Yorker’s report of an encounter between Kavanaugh and Deborah Ramirez, another woman who made credible allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.

ACLU

• In response to an article about the ACLU’s opposition to a North Dakota ethics measure, Traynor tweeted, “That ACLU is one bad ass momma.” The tweet has since been deleted from his account.