Politics

Trump Turns Up Heat On John Thune, Demands Senate Leader Fire Parliamentarian

Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure Wednesday on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough.

MacDonough serves as a de-facto referee to interpret Senate rules, which includes determining which provisions meet the strict requirements governing the budget reconciliation process. Trump called on Republicans to replace McDonough after she stripped out his $1 billion request to enhance Secret Service security measures during the construction of the White House ballroom.

“Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ‘Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an ‘iron fist,'” Trump said on Truth Social. “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced? There are many fair people who would be qualified for that vital job. The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats.”

“It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics,” Trump continued. “The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us. We need THE SAVE AMERICA ACT passed, and NOW — And, likewise, kill the Filibuster, which would give us everything! If we don’t pass at least one of these two provisions quickly, you will never see another Republican President again … The Republicans aren’t doing it because they say the Dumocrats will never do it, but the Republicans are WRONG. Get smart and tough Republicans, or you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

MacDonough said on Saturday that the language regarding the Secret Service measures violated the Byrd Rule, which dictates that provisions in a reconciliation bill must have a direct, non-incidental impact on the federal budget. She ruled the language would need to be reworked if Republicans want to pass the package along party lines, according to the Senate Budget Committee.

The entire Secret Service provision was struck down because MacDonough said it fell outside of the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, which included the language in their portion of the immigration bill, according to Politico.

Thune said that Trump’s calls were “concerning,” claiming that she had been targeted.

“Obviously, it’s concerning when anybody gets targeted like that. But it’s, I guess, his opinion,” Thune said. “We’ll make sure everybody’s got security around here.”

Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Thune, said on X that the ruling was not “abnormal.”

“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” Wrasse said.

On Friday, MacDonough ruled that four sections in the Republican-led $72 billion immigration enforcement package would need to be reworded, ruling that they violated the Byrd Rule. The impacted provisions involved funding for Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security appropriations and additional funds to screen unaccompanied migrant children.

The spending package would fund approximately $71.7 billion to $72 billion in new mandatory spending, with $38.2 billion going toward ICE and between $22 billion and $26 billion to CBP.

In June 2025, MacDonough also put several provisions in the big, beautiful bill on the chopping block, advising Republicans to strike an array of banking and environmental-related provisions from their budget proposal that sought to deliver on Trump’s agenda.

MacDonough was appointed by former Senate Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2012.