Trump says 'very close' to making final decision on Supreme Court pick

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's getting "very close to having a final decision made" on his Supreme Court nominee.

He told reporters at the White House before leaving for a rally near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a key battleground state for this year's presidential election.

Trump said he will announce the decision on Saturday afternoon during a press conference.

The president acknowledged he has talked to "many people" but refused to say whom he's meeting with.

"I don't want to talk about who I'm meeting with, but I've spoken to many," he said. "I think you're going to be very impressed when you see all of them. I mean, they're all great."

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon, died last week at age 87, vacating her seat on the nine-person bench and opening the door for Trump to select a replacement, which would cement a 6-3 conservative majority for the high court.

Trump has said he wants to see a full Senate vote before Election Day, which falls on Nov. 3, a move intended to energize his supporters as he's trailing former U.S. Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in national and battleground state polls.

On Tuesday, Trump signaled that he would resort to the Supreme Court for election-related disputes.

"We need nine justices. You need that with the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending. It's a scam," he said. "I think it's going to be very important because what they're doing is a hoax with the ballots."

Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on mail-in voting by claiming without providing any evidence that its expansion, which many states have done to help people vote more safely during the pandemic, would lead to massive voter fraud, raising the possibility that the results would be challenged in court.