[Daily Caller] An NBC News reporter tweeted early Tuesday that Justice Anthony Kennedy secretly negotiated the terms of his departure from the U.S. Supreme Court with the Trump administration, citing a single unnamed source.The reporters pursuing the story, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Frank Thorp, first claimed that the justice quietly conferred with the White House for several months in advance of his retirement, and agreed to step aside once he received assurances that Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be selected as his successor.
Caldwell walked back her initial claim, conceding it "incorrectly implies a transactional nature in Kennedy’s replacement." She then said that Kennedy provided a list of acceptable nominees to the administration, which included Kavanaugh.