Democrats Walk Out Of Hearing; GOP Prepares To Confirm Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following Thursday’s dramatic hearing, only one Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee remained undecided on whether or not to send Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. But on Friday morning, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who has frequently spoken out publicly against Trump and yet voted in favor of Trump’s agenda almost 84 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, made up his mind. He announced that he will, after all, vote to support Kavanaugh’s nomination. On Thursday, Palo Alto University psychologist Christine Blasey Ford, pictured above, gave compelling and emotional testimony detailing what she described as a sexual assault on her by Kavanaugh. Later in the day, Kavanaugh also testified and often breaking into tears, angrily denied that he had committed the assault. At a Friday Judiciary Committee meeting, Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal asked the committee to issue a subpoeana for Mark Judge, the high school friend of Kavanaugh identified by Blasey Ford as Kavanaugh’s accomplice in the alleged assault, and whose “uproarious laughter” together with Kavanaugh, Blasey Ford recalled hearing during the assault. But all 11 Republicans on the committee voted down Blumenethal’s request, and Chair Chuck Grassley set a vote on Kavanaugh for 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time—which led several Democratic senators including Blumenthal, California’s Kamala Harris, and Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, to walk out. “From top to bottom this has been about bullies,” Harris said at a press conference after she left the committee meeting. “All we have asked for is that there be an FBI investigation. Dr. Ford came in and she poured out her heart, she cooperated with the process.... For the sake of our democracy and the integrity of our democracy, you would think that members of the United States Senate would say, 'Wait a minute, there’s enough here to push pause. Let’s reflect on what we’re about to do.'” Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse did not walk out of the meeting, but remeained to give a statement accusing the committee of refusing to allow an FBI investigation into Blasey Ford’s allegations, instead employing “partisan interviews by partisan staffers to force the nomination through.” The American Bar Association on Friday also sent a letter to the committee requesting that the vote on Kavanaugh be put on hold to allow for an FBI investigation of Ford’s allegations. But at the meeting, Grassley dismissed the letter, claiming that it represented only the views of ABA President Robert Carlson, who signed the letter, not the organization as a whole. In one sign that gave encouragement to opponents of Kavanaugh, Indiana Democrat Joe Donnelly announced Friday that he would vote “no” on the nomination, partly citing the ABA call for an FBI probe.  Donnelly had voted in favor of Trump’s previous nominee, Neil Gorsuch, and was believed to be a possible Democratic vote in favor of Kavanaugh. Following yesterday’s hearing, Donnelly met privately with fellow “red state” Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. According to some unnconfirmed reports, the four planned to vote the same way. If those reports prove accurate, the Kavanaugh nomination would need at least one Democratic vote to prevail. As Flake walked from his office to the hearing room, he was confronted by two women who said that they were survivors of sexual assault. But Flake did not respond to them, telling them only to read his written statement of support for Kavanaugh, as he entered an elevator. Those interested may watch a video of that encounter at this link. Photo by CSPAN / Wikimeda Commmons Public Domain