Sen. John Fetterman mocked Matt Gaetz Thursday for withdrawing as Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, saying sarcastically that he “didn’t see that coming.”

“I heard a rumor that they’re going to issue a new silver dollar in his honor because he had to withdraw,” Fetterman joked. “OK, so can we freak out about that next?”

Gaetz announced Thursday he was withdrawing, saying in a social media post his nomination had become a distraction.

When the president-elect announced he tapped Gaetz to be his next attorney general last week, Fetterman called it “god-tier-level trolling.”

“People have the opportunity and they can freak out over anything and respond and if they want to do that you better pace yourself though because it’s not even Thanksgiving,” Fetterman told reporters Thursday. “We don’t have to react and take unserious things so seriously that the world is going to spin off its axis the way it is right now.”

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

The office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is defending a reported deal where Democrats ceded four appeals court nominations in favor of confirming more of President Joe Biden’s lower-level federal judicial appointees.

“The trade was four circuit nominees — all lacking the votes to get confirmed — for more than triple the number of additional judges moving forward,” a spokesperson for Schumer said Thursday.

Democrats have confirmed 221 of Biden’s picks for the federal courts after the Senate overwhelmingly approved Sharad Desai for a federal judicial post in Arizona on Thursday. Republicans have tried throughout the week to erect procedural hurdles to slow confirmation of more Biden judicial nominees.

President-elect Donald Trump has urged GOP senators to do everything possible to block further confirmation of judges nominated by Biden, despite Democratic control the Senate floor. The chamber will vote on the nominations of seven judicial nominees once lawmakers return after Thanksgiving.

It’s worth noting the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nominations of six more judicial picks, including former Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.), on Thursday. Those selections are expected to get chamber consideration.

Ursula Perano contributed to this report.

Republican senators expect Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to soon make the rounds on Capitol Hill as he seeks to win their votes for his confirmation to be Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Thursday Kennedy was likely to journey to Blue Light News in the coming days, suggesting he’d meet with GOP senators after the Thanksgiving break.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the top Republican on the HELP Committee, confirmed there has been “some preliminary reach out” to organize the meetings. Cassidy is also a member of the Finance Committee that will ultimately decide whether to send Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

Kennedy has a smoother route to confirmation than several other Trump picks. Democrats are sure to attack his vaccine skepticism and embrace of Covid-19 conspiracy theories. But his more urgent task will be to calm concerns among GOP senators about his past support for abortion rights and reassure those from farm states concerned about his desire to overhaul the U.S. food system, which could send shockwaves through the agriculture sector.

Kennedy wants to ban certain pesticides, soybean products, corn syrup and other processed items from the current U.S. food supply as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of the Finance and Agriculture Committees, told reporters earlier this week that he’s pushing for a meeting with Kennedy before any confirmation hearing, citing some apprehension about Kennedy’s views on food production.

“I’m willing to have a discussion with him and find out where he’s coming from,” Grassley told reporters Tuesday. “But I may have to spend a lot of time educating him about agriculture, and I’m willing to do that.”