President Donald Trump announced on Monday, December 8, his plan to introduce a sizeable $12 million aid package intended to assist farmers hit hard by the ongoing trade wars.
He was joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and other prominent industry figures at a government-led roundtable aimed at addressing the trade and tariff-related concerns, and possibly calming them.
However, while Trump is in the news and on the social media merely on a daily basis, this meeting revealed what the president says when the mics are off, or when they are supposed to be off.
Namely, as he was leaving the roundtable, probably not aware the cameras were still rolling, he made a remark that made many puzzled.
The hot mic picked Trump saying “blue slips,” then “You know I cannot appoint anybody,” before an unidentified voice could be heard saying, “We’ll have a talk.”
Trump’s comments were widely viewed as targeting the Senate’s blue-slip tradition, a long-standing practice that allows home-state senators to approve or effectively block federal judicial and US attorney nominations.
His remarks sparked fresh concern following confirmation that his former lawyer, Alina Habba, would step down as US Attorney for New Jersey after a federal appeals court ruled her service unlawful. Trump condemned the practice for preventing action on nominees opposed by senators, describing the blue-slip system as “horrible” and accusing Republicans of enabling a process he says makes appointments virtually impossible.
Trump can be heard yelling about "blue slips" on a hot mic as the press is shepherded out of the press event pic.twitter.com/mnYLvfE6P0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 8, 2025
“You’ve got a blue slip thing that’s horrible,” Trump said. “It’s a horrible thing. It makes it impossible to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney. And it’s a shame. And the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves that they allow this to go on.
He added: “I hope that somebody speaks to Senator Grassley about doing something about the blue slip because I’m telling you, John, I put up great people, top people, highest education, the best lawyers to be like U.S. attorney and both senators, it only takes one, but if they’re Democrat senators, they say, ‘We’re not going to approve it.’”
“I guess I just have to keep appointing people for three months and then just appoint another one, another one. It’s a very sad situation. We’re losing tremendous, we’re losing a lot of great people.”