Mitch McConnell now open to high court nomination in election year
The Senate’s majority leader, insisting his chamber won’t be irreparably damaged by the bitter fight over new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is signaling he’s willing to take up another high court nomination in the 2020 presidential election season should another vacancy arise. “We’ll see if there is a vacancy in 2020,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Heading into pivotal midterm elections, McConnell tried to distinguish between President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh this year and his own decision not to have the GOP-run Senate consider President Barack Obama‘s high court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016. McConnell called the current partisan divide a “low point,” but he blamed Democrats. “The Senate’s not broken,” McConnell said. “We didn’t attack Merrick Garland’s background and try to destroy him.” He asserted that “we simply followed the tradition of America.” While McConnell said Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a shining moment for the GOP, some Republicans weren’t so sure. GOP Gov. John Kasich of Ohio predicted “a good year” for Democrats in the November elections and said he wonders about “the soul of our country” in the long term after the tumultuous hearings. “It could be a short-term win,” he said. The climactic 50-48 roll call vote Saturday on Kavanaugh was the closest vote to confirm a justice since 1881. It capped a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women three decades ago. Kavanaugh emphatically denied the allegations. The accusations transformed the clash from a routine struggle over judicial ideology into an angry jumble of questions about victims’ rights and personal attacks on nominees. Ultimately, every Democrat voted against Kavanaugh except for Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Kavanaugh was sworn in Saturday evening in a private ceremony as protesters chanted outside the court building. McConnell said the confirmation fight had energized Republican voters and he praised GOP senators, whom he said re-established the “presumption of innocence” in confirmation hearings. “We stood up to the mob,” he said. “This is an important day for the United States Senate.” Two years ago, McConnell blocked a vote on Garland, citing what he said was a tradition of not filling vacancies in a presidential election year. But when asked again Sunday about it, he sought to clarify that a Senate case in 1880 suggested inaction on a nominee only when the chamber was controlled by the party opposing the president. Republicans currently hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, with several seats up for grabs in November. The court’s two oldest justices are Democratic appointees: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 85 and Stephen Breyer is 80. If you have a Senate of a different party than the president, “you don’t fill a vacancy created in the presidential year,” McConnell said. Trump has now put his stamp on the court with his second justice in as many years. Yet Kavanaugh is joining under a cloud. Accusations from several women remain under scrutiny, and House Democrats have pledged further investigation if they win the majority in November. Outside groups are culling an unusually long paper trail from his previous government and political work, with the National Archives and Records Administration expected to release a cache of millions of documents later this month. Still, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he believed it would be premature for Democrats to talk about re-investigating Kavanaugh or a possible impeachment if the party takes control of the chamber in November, stressing a need to help heal the country. “Frankly, we are just less than a month away from an election,” Coons said. “Folks who feel very strongly one way or the other about the issues in front of us should get out and vote and participate.” McConnell spoke on “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Kasich appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Coons was on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Brett Kavanaugh confirmed: Senate OKs Supreme Court nominee
The bitterly polarized U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday to join the Supreme Court, delivering an election-season triumph to President Donald Trump that could swing the court rightward for a generation after a battle that rubbed raw the country’s cultural, gender and political divides. The near party-line vote was 50-48, capping a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — which he emphatically denied. Those allegations magnified the clash from a routine Supreme Court struggle over judicial ideology into an angrier, more complex jumble of questions about victims’ rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees. Acrimonious to the end, the battle featured a climactic roll call that was interrupted several times by protesters in the Senate Gallery before Capitol Police removed them. Vice President Mike Pence presided over the roll call, his potential tie-breaking vote unnecessary. The vote gave Trump his second appointee to the court, tilting it further to the right and pleasing conservative voters who might have revolted against GOP leaders had Kavanaugh’s nomination flopped. Democrats hope that the roll call, exactly a month from elections in which House and Senate control are in play, will prompt infuriated women and liberals to stream to the polls to oust Republicans. In final remarks just before the voting, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said a vote for Kavanaugh was “a vote to end this brief, dark chapter in the Senate’s history and turn the page toward a brighter tomorrow.” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York looked ahead to November, appealing to voters beyond the Senate chamber: “Change must come from where change in America always begins: the ballot box.” Rep. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, confronting a tough re-election race next month in a state that Trump won in 2016 by a landslide, was the sole Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh. Every voting Republican backed the 53-year-old conservative judge. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican to oppose the nominee, voted “present,” offsetting the absence of Kavanaugh supporter Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter’s wedding. That rare procedural maneuver left Kavanaugh with the same two-vote margin he’d have had if Murkowski and Daines had both voted. Republicans hold only a 51-49 Senate majority and therefore had little support to spare. It was the closest roll call to confirm a justice since 1881, when Stanley Matthews was approved by 24-23, according to Senate records. Within minutes, dozens of political and advocacy groups blasted out emailed reactions. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, which contributes to female Democratic candidates, assailed the confirmation of “an alleged sexual assailant and anti-choice radical to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. But we will carry that anger into the election. Women will not forget this.” Kay Coles James, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the vote “a victory for liberty in America” and called Kavanaugh “a good man and good jurist.” The outcome, telegraphed Friday when the final undeclared senators revealed their views, was devoid of the shocks that had come almost daily since Christine Blasey Ford said last month that an inebriated Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a 1982 high school get-together. Since then, the country watched agape as one electric moment after another gushed forth. These included the emergence of two other accusers; an unforgettable Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which a composed Ford and a seething Kavanaugh told their diametrically opposed stories, and a truncated FBI investigation that the agency said showed no corroborating evidence and Democrats lambasted as a White House-shackled farce. All the while, crowds of demonstrators — mostly Kavanaugh opponents — ricocheted around the Capitol’s grounds and hallways, raising tensions, chanting slogans, interrupting lawmakers’ debates, confronting senators and often getting arrested. Trump weighed in Saturday morning on behalf of the man he nominated in July. “Big day for America!” he tweeted. Democrats said Kavanaugh would push the court too far, including possible sympathetic rulings for Trump should the president encounter legal problems from the special counsel’s investigations into Russian connections with his 2016 presidential campaign. And they said Kavanaugh’s record and fuming testimony at a now-famous Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showed he lacked the fairness, temperament and even honesty to become a justice. But the fight was defined by the sexual assault accusations. And it was fought against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and Trump’s unyielding support of his nominee and occasional mocking of Kavanaugh’s accusers. About 100 anti-Kavanaugh protesters climbed the Capitol’s East Steps as the vote approached, pumping fists and waving signs. U.S. Capitol Police began arresting some of them. Hundreds of other demonstrators watched from behind barricades. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, chanting, “November is coming,” ”Vote them out” and “We believe survivors.” On Friday, in the moment that made clear Kavanaugh would prevail, Collins delivered a speech saying that Ford’s Judiciary Committee telling of the alleged 1982 assault was “sincere, painful and compelling.” But she also said the FBI had found no corroborating evidence from witnesses whose names Ford had provided. “We must always remember that it is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most in jeopardy,” said Collins, perhaps the chamber’s most moderate Republican. Manchin used an emailed statement to announce his support for Kavanaugh moments after Collins finished talking. Manchin, the only Democrat supporting the nominee, faces a competitive re-election race next month in a state Trump carried in 2016 by 42 percentage points. Manchin expressed empathy for sexual assault victims. But he said that after factoring in the FBI report, “I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution.” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has repeatedly battled with Trump and will retire in January, said he, too, planned to vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. In the procedural vote Friday that handed Republicans their crucial initial victory, senators voted 51-49 to limit debate, defeating Democratic efforts to
Shocker: Brett Kavanaugh showed his humanity (rescind his nomination now)
Today, I want to talk about the anger and frustration directed toward Brett Kavanaugh for showing emotion during the Senate hearing. Yes, I realize that judicial temperament is important especially when you’re talking about a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, but at the same time Kavanaugh didn’t lose his cool in an ordinary professional setting, he lost his cool as a result of a full-on character assassination attempt including accusations that, if true, would make him a monster. He was facing this playing out minute-by-minute across the nation. On Thursday, Kavanaugh did something unprecedented which is write an op-ed and acknowledge that he went too far in letting his feeling show at the hearing. While I applaud him for taking responsibility and for apologizing I have to wonder if anyone on the left will ever do the same for him and his family? Against that backdrop, I testified before the Judiciary Committee last Thursday to defend my family, my good name and my lifetime of public service. My hearing testimony was forceful and passionate. That is because I forcefully and passionately denied the allegation against me. …I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said. I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters. The sexual assault accusations against him have ranged from questionable (did he or didn’t he) to delusional (no way in the world that’s true) with the FBI not being able to find a single witness or piece of evidence to back up any of the claims. That hasn’t stopped liberals in the U.S. Senate from their smear campaign or outside groups from rallying to oppose his nomination louder than ever (because the tone in which they were screaming about his experience and background wasn’t effective they are now grasping at straws). Here’s where I have to shake my head and wonder what people are thinking. The people saying he shouldn’t have lost his cool realize that he’s human and that this wasn’t an attack on his resume, his background, or his fairness on the bench? This was a full-on assault on who he is as a person and the kind of life he’s led to date. Can you name anyone who wouldn’t be emotional about this? I would have been more concerned for his character had he remained stoic and just regurgitated talking points and practiced lines while faced with accusations of a near rape and gang rapes. I frequently see progressives/liberals talk about how we should raise our boys and our children without gender roles allowing them to embrace who they are. It’s been said that we as a society should not raise or encourage our boys to be tough but instead should let encourage them to be in touch with their feelings in the same way girls are (genetics and hormones be damned); the ideas of “boys will be boys” and other traditional societal norms of men being the protectors is wrong and dated they say. “Gender conforming stereotypes” are wrong. But just let a man show his true feelings. Let him cry. Let him get angry. Let him be defensive when attacked and BAM he should be disqualified from consideration for a job he’s more than qualified for. In this case we’re not talking about just any man. We’re not talking about a man who maybe has a history of not being able to control his emotions. No, here we have a man with a reputation that’s been well documented for his entire adult life. Here we have a man who’s been under tremendous scrutiny before and has never shown a hint to cause concern. Here we have someone who has a history of being more than fair going out of his way to help women succeed and thrive. We’re talking about someone with hundreds of witnesses who have gone on record to talk about how much he respects women, whose career is exemplary and who was never given a moments fair shake once the allegations came out and when he gets on the stand and shows some frustration, hurt and disappointment at a process that’s been completely unfair to him he’s a monster. I will tell you, I would hope that any man in my life from friends to family would feel strongly about being attacked the way Kavanaugh has been. I’d hope anyone male or female faced with the way in which senate democrats and the media has portrayed accusations as being equal to a conviction would feel and express dismay. This isn’t something that was happening in a vacuum to Kavanaugh this circus played out on the worlds stage in front of his wife and children. Feminist who call for the end of gender stereotypes should be ashamed of themselves for mocking and criticizing his display of emotion because it was appropriate and measured. I would imagine most people would be far more upset, far more emotional and far more angry and frustrated if dealing with what Kavanaugh and his family has had to deal with understanding the long-term consequences of what’s happening. So in today’s episode “make up your darn minds” I once again call into question those who say we shouldn’t conform to gender norms and be able to express emotions, and then mock him for doing so. You need to take a look at your lives and realize that yes, conservative, Christian men should be able to display emotions. A nominee for the Supreme Court doesn’t stop being human, doesn’t stop being a father simply because of their nomination. It looks like we’re just a day or two away from the senate voting on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. I hope any senator
GOP senator: Secret FBI report shows no Brett Kavanaugh misconduct
A top Senate Republican said Thursday the confidential FBI report on charges that Brett Kavanaugh sexually abused women three decades ago “found no hint of misconduct” by the Supreme Court nominee. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made his remarks — and urged his colleagues to confirm the conservative judge — in a written statement hours after the post-midnight delivery of the FBI document to Congress. With Kavanaugh’s uncertain prospects for approval depending in part on the decisions of five wavering senators, lawmakers began viewing the document in a secure room in the Capitol complex. “There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know,” Grassley said, basing his comment on a briefing he said he’d received from committee aides. He added, “This investigation found no hint of misconduct.” Democrats have complained that the FBI’s reopening of its Kavanaugh background check has been far too limited, leaving out contact with crucial potential witnesses. Grassley said the FBI could not “locate any third parties who can attest to any of the allegations,” and he said there is “no contemporaneous evidence.” He provided no specific detail. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already started a process that will produce a crucial test vote in his polarized chamber Friday on Kavanaugh’s fate. Should Republicans get the majority of votes they need — and Vice President Mike Pence is available to cast the tie-breaker, if necessary — that would set up a decisive roll call on his confirmation, likely over the weekend. “Senators ought to wipe away the muck from all the mudslinging and politics and look at this nomination with clear eyes,” Grassley said, echoing accusations against Democrats that McConnell has been making. He added, “It’s time to vote. I’ll be voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.” Three women have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in separate incidents in the 1980s. Kavanaugh, 53, now a judge on the powerful District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, has denied the claims. While the FBI interviews were to focus on sexual assault allegations, although Democrats have also called into question his drinking habits during high school and college and dishonest comments they say he’s made about his background. Kavanaugh has said stories of bad behavior while drinking are exaggerated. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Kay Ivey voices support for Brett Kavanaugh, hopes Senate makes ‘right decision’
She may not be able to cast a vote in favor of his confirmation, but that’s not stopping Alabama Governor Kay Ivey from voicing her support for President Donald Trump‘s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. On Monday Ivey was asked if she supported the confirmation of Kavanaugh based on what she currently knows. She was also asked if she supported the FBI investigation that was decided upon after Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake announced he would vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate only if the FBI were to investigate. “The Senate has a job to do and that is to confirm a Supreme Court justice,” Ivey replied to an AL.com reporter. “And I surely hope they will get the information that they already have, evaluate it, and make the right decision for the best interests of the country.” She elaborated, “I think he should be confirmed. But see, I’m not there to see it eyeball-to-eyeball. So that’s not a fair question. It’s the role of the senators in the Senate to evaluate the information they have and to exercise their good judgment.” Watch an AL.com reporter interview Ivey below: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was asked this morning Ivey spoke with reporters this morning after a press conference about the state’s new Security Operations Center and cybersecurity website. Ivey was asked if she supported Kavanaugh’s nomination
Donald Trump says he supports ‘comprehensive’ FBI Brett Kavanaugh probe
President Donald Trump said Monday he wants the FBI to do a “comprehensive” investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh. But he also said he stands by his Supreme Court nominee “all the way.” Trump said during a Rose Garden press conference that he wants the probe to wrap up quickly because the accusations have been “so unfair” to Kavanaugh and his family. But he said it’s fine with him if the FBI wants to pursue accusations made by three women who have publicly come forward even as he has left the scope of the investigation to Senate Republicans. “My White House will do whatever the senators want,” Trump said. “The one thing I want is speed.” The president added, “We don’t want to go on a witch hunt, do we?” Trump also said he was surprised Kavanaugh has been so open about his beer drinking, one area Democrats are planning to focus on as they question whether the nominee was fully truthful in his testimony before the Senate. FBI agents interviewed one of the three women who have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct as Republicans and Democrats quarreled over whether the bureau would have enough time and freedom to conduct a thorough investigation before a high-stakes vote on his nomination to the nation’s highest court. The White House insisted it was not “micromanaging” the new one-week review of Kavanaugh’s background, but some Democratic lawmakers claimed the White House was keeping investigators from interviewing certain witnesses. Trump tweeted that no matter how much time and discretion the FBI was given, “it will never be enough” for Democrats trying to keep Kavanaugh off the bench. Even as the FBI explored the past allegations that have surfaced against Kavanaugh, another Yale University classmate came forward to accuse the federal appellate judge of being untruthful in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the extent of his drinking in college. As the fresh review unfolded, the prosecutor who was brought in by Republicans to handle questioning at last week’s hearing outlined in a new memo why she did not believe criminal charges would be brought against Kavanaugh if it were a criminal case rather than a Supreme Court confirmation process. Rachel Mitchell wrote that she did not believe a “reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee.” Mitchell argued that that there were inconsistencies in accuser Christine Blasey Ford‘s narrative and said no one has corroborated Ford’s account. Ford, a California college professor, was not questioned as part of a criminal proceeding but in the confirmation process. In speaking to FBI agents, Deborah Ramirez detailed her allegation that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the early 1980s when they were students at Yale University, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of a confidential investigation. Kavanaugh has denied Ramirez’s allegation. The person familiar with Ramirez’s questioning, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said she also provided investigators with the names of others who she said could corroborate her account. But Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, has not been contacted by the FBI since Trump on Friday ordered the agency to take another look at the nominee’s background, according to a member of Ford’s team. Kavanaugh has denied assaulting Ford. In a statement released Sunday, a Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s said he is “deeply troubled by what has been a blatant mischaracterization by Brett himself of his drinking at Yale.” Charles “Chad” Ludington, who now teaches at North Carolina State University, said he was a friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale and that Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker.” “On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer. When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive,” Ludington said. While saying that youthful drinking should not condemn a person for life, Ludington said he was concerned about Kavanaugh’s statements under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Speaking to the issue of the scope of the FBI’s investigation, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said White House counsel Don McGahn, who is managing Kavanaugh’s nomination, “has allowed the Senate to dictate what these terms look like, and what the scope of the investigation is.” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said the investigation will be “limited in scope” and “will not be a fishing expedition. The FBI is not tasked to do that.” Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., requested an investigation last Friday — after he and other Republicans on the panel voted along strict party lines in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation — as a condition for his own subsequent vote to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. Another committee member, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that testimony would be taken from Ramirez and Kavanaugh’s high school friend Mark Judge, who has been named by two of three women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. “I think that will be the scope of it. And that should be the scope of it,” Graham said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on the White House and the FBI to provide the written directive regarding the investigation’s scope. In a letter Sunday, she also asked for updates on any expansion of the original directive. Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday she is confident in the investigation and “that the FBI will follow up on any leads that result from the interviews.” The Maine Republican supports the new FBI investigation and is among a few Republican and Democratic senators who have not announced a position on Kavanaugh. Republicans have 51 seats in the closely divided 100-member Senate and cannot afford to lose more than one vote on confirmation. Senate Republicans discussed the contours of the investigation with the White House late Friday, according
Bradley Byrne urges Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation
He may not be able to cast an actual vote for his confirmation, but that’s not stopping Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne from voicing his support for President Donald Trump‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. On Friday, Byrne took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives where he took a stand for Kavanaugh saying he’s ashamed of where lawmakers find themselves today as he urged for Kavanaugh’s confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Senate to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Judge Kavanaugh has a clear record as a thoughtful jurist who respects and will defend our Constitution. Those who have worked with him over the years and know him best strongly defend his record as a good man who loves his family and our country. I’m ashamed we find ourselves where we are today. It is shameful the way Judge Kavanaugh has had his name smeared, just as it is shameful that Dr. Ford has been used as a pawn in a political game. Frankly, my heart hurts for both of them. Our government is only as good as the people who serve in it, and I am deeply concerned that this whole series of events will encourage fewer good men and women to take up the call of government service. This circus must end. The Senate should vote on Judge Kavanaugh, approve him to serve on the Supreme Court, and allow our great country to move forward. I yield back. Watch Byrne’s floor speech below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBTVmu8dcgE&feature=youtu.be Read Byrne’s speech below:
Doug Jones says he will vote ‘no’ on Brett Kavanaugh
U.S. Sen. Doug Jones confirmed in a statement Thursday night he will vote against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court Jones called the testimony of Kavanaugh’s accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, “credible” in his explanation. “The Kavanaugh nomination process has been flawed from the beginning and incomplete at the end. Dr. Ford was credible and courageous and I am concerned about the message our vote will be sending to our sons and daughters, as well as victims of sexual assault. I will be voting no,” Jones said. Jones further explained his reasoning on Twitter, saying he was going to be on the “right side of history:” I have called for: —Complete disclosure of all documents —Subpoena Mark Judge —Postpone the vote Dr. Ford was credible & courageous. What message will we send to our daughters & sons, let alone sexual assault victims? The message I will send is this—I vote no. #RightSideofHistory I have called for: —Complete disclosure of all documents —Subpoena Mark Judge —Postpone the vote Dr. Ford was credible & courageous. What message will we send to our daughters & sons, let alone sexual assault victims? The message I will send is this—I vote no. #RightSideofHistory — Doug Jones (@DougJones) September 28, 2018 News broke Wednesday before the hearing that Jones, despite remaining publicly undecided, was expected “to be firmly in the ‘no’ column” in terms of whether or not he’d vote in favor of confirming Kavanaugh by Democratic Leadership. Last week Jones tweeted that the Senate ought to “hit the pause button” on vote to confirm Kavanaugh following accusations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulting a women during their teenage years. Ford, a psychology professor in Northern California, said Kavanaugh tried to “attack [her]and remove [her] clothing” during a party when both of them were high school students in Maryland in the early 80s. Jones tweeted, “We cannot rush to move forward under this cloud.” Since that time two more women have made accusations against Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh continues to call the allegations “completely false.”
Angry Brett Kavanaugh denies Christine Blasey Ford accusation, sees ‘disgrace’
Emotionally battling to rescue his Supreme Court nomination, a beleaguered Brett Kavanaugh fought back Thursday against allegations that he’d sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when both were high school students, telling Congress that allegations by her and others have “totally and permanently destroyed” his family and his reputation. In a loud voice, the conservative jurist told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his confirmation process had become “a national disgrace.” “You have replaced ‘advice and consent’ with ‘search and destroy,’” he said. Kavanaugh denied Ford’s allegation that he’d trapped her on a bed in a locked room during a gathering of friends when they were teenagers, saying, “I have never done this to her or to anyone.” With his support among Senate Republicans in question, he also said he would not step side. “You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit, never.” Behind him in the audience, his wife, Ashley, sat looking stricken. He himself was close to tears when he mentioned his mother and daughter and, later, his father. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyers submit 4 statements backing up assault story
Christine Blasey Ford‘s lawyers said Wednesday they have given the Senate sworn affidavits from four people who say she told them well before Brett Kavanaugh‘s Supreme Court nomination that she had been sexually assaulted when she was much younger. And according to all four, she either named Kavanaugh as the assailant or described the attacker as a “federal judge.” At the U.N., meanwhile, President Donald Trump said on the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Kavanaugh and Ford that Republicans have been “nice” and “respectful” in their treatment of Ford. He described his nominee as “a real gem” and said he probably would have pushed for faster confirmation rather than waiting for Ford’s testimony. In one of the affidavits, family friend Keith Koegler said he wrote to Ford in a June 29 email, “I remember you telling me about him, but I don’t remember his name,” family friend Keith Koegler wrote to Ford in a June 29 email, according to his statement. “Do you mind telling me so I can read about him?” “Brett Kavanaugh,” Ford responded by email, according to Koegler, her son’s baseball team coach. Trump nominated Kavanaugh, 53, to the high court on July 9. Kavanaugh staunchly denies ever sexually assaulting anyone, and his allies have questioned the credibility of Ford and a second accuser based in part on what they say is a lack of corroboration. Trump has dismissed both accusations as a “Democratic con job.” The affidavits signed Monday and Tuesday of this week could give more weight to Ford’s story on the eve of her testimony — and Kavanaugh’s expected denial — before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Republicans are concerned that, win or lose, the battle over Kavanaugh’s nomination is further animating women already inclined to vote against Trump’s party in November’s elections in which control of the next Congress is at stake. Hanging in the balance is Trump’s chance to swing the high court more firmly to the right for a generation. Despite Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s forecast that Republicans will win, Kavanaugh’s fate remains uncertain in a chamber where Republicans have a scant 51-49 majority. Ford, 51, went public with her story in The Washington Post recently, saying Kavanaugh had pinned her down, tried to remove her clothes and clamped a hand over her mouth at a party when both were in high school. She got away when a second male in the room jumped on the bed and sent all three tumbling, she says. According to the affidavits, Ford revealed the assault in varying levels of detail between 2002 and Koegler’s email in June. Her husband, Russell Ford, stated that he became aware around the time the couple wed in 2002 that his wife had “any experience with sexual assault,” but she provided no details at the time. In 2012 during a couples therapy session, he says, she revealed that in high school she had been “trapped in a room and physically restrained by one boy who was molesting her while another boy watched.” He says she named the attacker as Kavanaugh. The subject came up again when Trump was considering his first Supreme Court nominee, who ended up being Justice Neil Gorsuch. Before the selection, Ford had told her husband that she was afraid the president might nominate Kavanaugh. The matter came up again when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement and Trump had a second seat to fill. In a third affidavit, Adela Gildo-Mazzon, a friend of more than a decade, said Ford first told her about the assault in June, 2013. The two met at a Mountain View, California, restaurant, where Ford arrived “visibly upset.” “Christine told me she … had been thinking about an assault she experienced when she was much younger,” Gildo-Mazzon’s statement says, adding that she has a receipt from the meal. “She said that she had been almost raped by someone who was now a federal judge.” Neighbor Rebecca White said she was walking her dog in 2017 when she ran into Ford, who said she had seen White’s social media post describing her own experience with sexual assault. “She then told me that when she was a young teen, she had been sexually assaulted by an older teen,” White recalled in the document. “I remember her saying that her assailant was now a federal judge.” The documents are likely to be central in the momentous hearing on Thursday in Washington. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell will be brought in to handle questioning of Kavanaugh and Ford. Mitchell comes from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, where she is the chief of the Special Victims Division, which covers sex crimes and family violence. Hoping the hearing will yield no new surprises, the Judiciary Committee scheduled its own vote on Kavanaugh for Friday, and Republican leaders laid plans that could keep the full Senate in session over the weekend and produce a final showdown roll call soon after — close to the Oct. 1 start of the high court’s new term. Meanwhile, the Republicans were still assessing what Kavanaugh’s Monday interview on the Fox News Channel — an unusual appearance for a Supreme Court nominee — indicates about how he would do in Thursday’s hearing. During the interview, Kavanaugh denied sexually assaulting anyone. He also denied the account of a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who told The New Yorker magazine that Kavanaugh caused her to touch his penis at a party when both were Yale freshmen. Some in the White House expressed relief that Kavanaugh, 53, presented a positive image to counter the allegations. Yet he appeared shaky at times. And there remained concern among aides and Trump himself about how Kavanaugh would hold up facing far fiercer questioning from Senate Democrats, according to a White House official not authorized to speak publicly. The affidavits are not the first challenges to Kavanaugh’s denials. James Roche, a Yale graduate who says he was Kavanaugh’s roommate in
With newfound aggressiveness, GOP ramps up Brett Kavanaugh fight
Brett Kavanaugh says he won’t let “false accusations drive me out of this process” as he, President Donald Trump and top Republicans mount an aggressive drive to rally the public and GOP senators behind his shaky Supreme Court nomination. Trump and Republican leaders accused Democrats on Monday of a smear campaign by using accusations by two women of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in the 1980s to try scuttling his Senate confirmation. There were no immediate indications that the emergence of a second accuser had fatally wounded Kavanaugh’s prospects, but the nominee took the unusual step of defending himself in a television interview that underscored the GOP’s new-found combativeness. Kavanaugh, 53, said on the conservative-friendly Fox News Channel that he wasn’t questioning that his initial accuser, psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, may have been sexually assaulted in her life. But he added, “What I know is I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,” a remarkable assertion for a nominee to the nation’s highest court. Kavanaugh’s TV appearance came three days before a crucial Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which he and his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, were slated to testify. That session loomed as a do-or-die wild card for Kavanaugh in which a split-second facial expression, a tear or a choice of words could prove decisive. On Monday, Trump called the accusations among “the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., angrily accused Democrats of slinging “all the mud they could manufacture” and promised a full Senate vote soon, but specified no date. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York retorted that if McConnell believed the allegations were a smear, “why don’t you call for an FBI investigation?” He accused Republicans of “a rush job to avoid the truth.” The similar wording and arguments that Republicans used suggested a concerted effort to undermine the women’s claims and portray an image of unity among GOP senators while pressing toward a confirmation vote. Despite the forceful rhetoric by Kavanaugh and his GOP supporters, it remained unclear how three moderate Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Arizona’s Jeff Flake and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski — would react to the latest accusation. With the GOP’s Senate control hanging on a razor-thin 51-49 margin, defections by any two Republican senators would seal his fate if all Democrats vote “no.” Collins said she remained undecided about Kavanaugh, a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. Proceeding with Kavanaugh seems to give Republicans their best shot at filling the Supreme Court vacancy — and giving the court an increasingly conservative tilt — before November’s elections, when GOP Senate control is in play. Even if Republicans lose their Senate majority, they could still have time to confirm a nominee in a lame-duck session, but the GOP hasn’t indicated that is under consideration. Delaying Kavanaugh’s confirmation could allow time for doubts about him to take root or any fresh accusations to emerge. Pushing forward with Kavanaugh has its own risks, besides an embarrassing defeat for Trump and the GOP. His nomination and the claims of sexual misconduct have stirred up women and liberal voters whose antipathy to Republicans has already been heightened by Trump’s policies and his own fraught history of alleged sexual transgressions. During the Fox interview, Kavanaugh said that while there were high school parties with beer and he wasn’t perfect, “I’m a good person. I’ve led a good life.” He said he’d never done anything like the episodes his accusers have described and said he didn’t have sexual intercourse until “many years” after high school. “I’m not going to let false accusations drive me out of this process. I have faith in God and I have faith in the fairness of the American people,” he said. On Sunday, The New Yorker magazine reported that Deborah Ramirez described a 1980s, alcohol-heavy Yale dormitory party at which she said Kavanaugh exposed himself, placed his penis in her face and caused her to touch it without her consent. Ford has said Kavanaugh tried removing her clothes and covered her mouth to prevent screams after he pinned her on a bed during a high school party. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday “we would be open” to having Ramirez testify before the same Judiciary Committee hearing at which Ford and Kavanaugh are scheduled to appear Thursday. There has been no indication that GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley is considering that. With increasing intensity, Republicans have attacked the credibility of Ford’s and now Ramirez’ accounts. They note that neither the accusers nor news organizations have found people willing to provide corroboration, even though both women have named people who they said were present at the alleged incidents. Ramirez, who told The New Yorker that she’d been drinking at the time, was initially reluctant to speak publicly “partly because her memories contained gaps,” the magazine said. After “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney,” she felt confident enough to go public, the report said. Dozens of people protesting Kavanaugh were arrested outside Collins’ Capitol Hill office. Away from Washington, there were walkouts in support of Ford and Ramirez by dozens of liberal groups in a campaign promoted on Twitter under the hashtag #BelieveSurvivors. Also jumping into the fray was the attorney who represents porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal fight with Trump. Lawyer Michael Avenatti said he was representing a woman with information about high school-era parties attended by Kavanaugh and urged the Senate to investigate. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Yes, I can support sexual assault victims and believe Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed
A week ago today, I wrote about the trap that liberals are trying catch conservatives in: Either you believe the unsubstantiated sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lock, stock and barrel without questions, or you are anti-feminist. You are pro-sexual assault. You are heartless, unkind, unsympathetic, the character assaults against you are relentless. In recent days, those cries have gotten stronger and louder. Which is why I want to go on record saying those who want to stand up for truth, justice and fairness need to stand by Brett Kavanaugh and not be bullied or shamed themselves. There has been zero, let me repeat that: ZERO, substantiating evidence to back-up any claim of misconduct, whereas there are mountains of reasons to have questions and doubts. Including, but not limited to, statements from everybody involved in Kavanaugh’s life during that period of time and since. There are questions in the consistency, or more importantly the inconsistency, of the statements that the accuser has made both then and now. One must also question the way that this has all played out as political theatre orchestrated by the Democrats in the Senate. These are the same people who have spent millions of dollars and weeks trying to keep the Kavanaugh nomination off the floor for a vote because of their opposition to his experience and policy positions as a Constitutionalist. When they couldn’t de-rail his nomination based on the merits of his record, they are now counting on these allegations to be his ultimate undoing. I stand with Kavanaugh. That doesn’t mean I don’t support victims of sexual assault because I have and I always will. I stand for a country in which people are not bullied and intimidated for their political beliefs. I stand and ask for fairness and justice when discussing important life changing issues such as accusations such as these. I stand for a world in which honorable men and women don’t need to worry about having their life’s work tarnished by those who disagree with them. It is an important time in our country with a lot of critical decisions facing the court. The senate needs to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and to do it in a timely manner. I hope people get wise to weaponization of sexual assault, which has been normalized as of late, and recognize that there are some who would use a false accusation as a tool in their arsenal meant to destroy the reputation and opportunities of good people they simply disagree with. I hope as a Alabama resident our U.S. Senator Doug Jones confirms Kavanaugh and doesn’t allow himself to be bullied into opposition.
