Former Obama speechwriter calls on Dianne Feinstein, 89, to resign

Former President Barack Obama’s speechwriter Jon Lovett called on Senator Dianne Feinstein to resign over her extended absence from the Senate due to health concerns, which hampered the Democrats’ ability to confirm federal judges.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) was hospitalized in February for shingles and released last month, but has not returned to the Senate, missing 60 of the last 82 votes.

“Dianne Feinstein should no longer be in the Senate,” Lovett said on his Pod Save America podcast on Tuesday, as first reported by the New York Post.

“She should step down and more people should call for her to step down,” continued Lovett, the co-founder of Crooked Media.

Feinstein was hospitalized in February for shingles but has not returned to the Senate to vote since her release last month

The former speechwriter said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) admitted that Feinstein’s absence from the committee has made it “essentially impossible” to move judicial candidates to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.

“I think allowing what the people around Dianne Feinstein are doing to be part of this farce of not having a Senator in such an important job is really wrong,” Lovett continued.

“Dianne Feinstein, who shouldn’t be in the Senate, is now preventing us from confirming judges,” he said Tuesday.

The Democrats have kept just 49 voting members in the Senate, absent Feinstein and John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in February for clinical depression. Fetterman is expected to return to the Senate next week nearly two months later.

Feinstein, 89, also faces criticism from some Democrats, who fear she is “mentally unfit to serve” and that her memory is “deteriorating rapidly.”

Feinstein confirmed in February that she will not be seeking re-election in 2024, but there is widespread speculation that she will step down early before her term expires.

Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has already announced that he will run to replace Feinstein’s Senate seat. He has raised more than $6.5 million since entering the race in January.

Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992. She is pictured as the mayor of San Francisco in 1978

Democratic Representatives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee also announced they are running for the seat.

A GOP challenger, GOP attorney Eric Early, threw his hat into the race on Tuesday and officially launched his bid in a new campaign video.

Early, who unsuccessfully stood up against Schiff in 2020, said in the video that he will campaign to fight the fentanyl and border crisis and stand up for parents’ rights.

“Eric will stand up to the socialist awakened interests that control Washington, DC, fight to preserve and protect our democracy, and fight for ordinary Californians who are being left behind,” his campaign website states.

He claims that the other Democrats running for Feinstein’s seat are pursuing messy politics that are harmful to Californians.

Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee have served in Congress together for 51 years. Judge them by the results of their actions and their votes – they got us into this mess,” he says.

He is the first major Republican to announce his intention to run for the seat, but faces strong headwinds in the stark blue state.

Feinstein, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, is the longest-serving female legislator in Senate history.

The senator has largely avoided public events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and after her husband passed away in February 2022.