Senate committee backs Kavanaugh for Supreme Court vote with call for FBI probe
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake asks for one week investigation into sexual assault allegations against the high court nominee before full Senate vote
WASHINGTON — After a flurry of last-minute negotiations, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the US Supreme Court after agreeing to a late call from Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona for a one week investigation into sexual assault allegations against the high court nominee.
However, it’s unclear if Republican leaders — or President Donald Trump — will support Flake’s call for the investigation or might instead press forward with a full Senate vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Speaking with reporters, Trump said he’ll “let the Senate handle” the nomination process.
The panel split along strict party lines with the 11 Republican members backing Kavanaugh and all 10 Democrats voting against the president’s controversial nominee — whose lifelong appointment would tilt the top court decisively to the right.
The dramatic scene unfolded a day after Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, testified in an emotional, hours-long hearing. Kavanaugh angrily denied the allegations that he assaulted Ford while they were both in high school, while she said she was “100 percent” certain he was her attacker.
Flake, a key moderate Republican, was at the center of the drama and uncertainty. On Friday morning, he announced that he would support Kavanaugh’s nomination. Shortly after, he was confronted in an elevator by two women who, through tears, implored him to change his mind.
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“Don’t look away from me! Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me, that you’ll let people like that go to the highest court on the land,” one weeping woman told an uncomfortable Flake.
After huddling privately with his colleagues, Flake announced that he would vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate only if the FBI were to investigate the allegations against the judge. Democrats have been calling for such an investigation, though Republicans and the White House have insisted it’s unnecessary.
“This country’s being ripped apart,” said Flake, a vocal critic of the president who is not seeking re-election. “And we have to ensure that we do due diligence here.”
All eyes will now be on Flake, as well as two key Republican women, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, to see if they break ranks in the full Senate vote, with Republicans holding a slim 51-49 majority. Murkowski told reporters she supports a delay in the planned vote.
Protesters swarmed the halls of the Capitol and chanted outside the Supreme Court ahead of the panel vote, saying support for Kavanaugh sent a message to women to not go public with their allegations of rape and sexual abuse.
After Thursday’s hearing, the nation’s leading legal organization, the American Bar Association — which initially endorsed Kavanaugh — called for the vote to be postponed until an FBI investigation could be carried out.
But the Senate committee of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats plowed ahead, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted the full Senate would hold a confirmation vote “in the coming days.”
“There is simply no reason to deny Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court on the basis of evidence presented to us,” Grassley said.
‘Surreal’
Democrats expressed outrage and some walked out of the committee meeting earlier Friday after Republicans unanimously backed taking a vote.
“It’s almost surreal,” veteran Democrat Patrick Leahy told colleagues, saying the Senate was “no longer an independent branch of government.”
Female Democratic members of the House of Representatives stood in the back of the room in protest, while demonstrators in the hallways chanted “November is coming!” — a reference to the upcoming midterm congressional elections. Several were arrested.
Trump nominated Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy, who had been a swing vote on a court now divided between four conservative and four liberal justices.
Two Republicans would need to defect, with all Democrats voting in opposition, in order to sink Kavanaugh in the full Senate vote.
Unequivocal denial
A defiant Kavanaugh came out with guns blazing on Thursday, insisting the assault never happened, accusing Democrats of destroying his reputation and condemning his confirmation battle as a “national disgrace.”
“I categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation by Dr. Ford,” Kavanaugh said, his voice shaking with anger as he fought back tears.
“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not in college, not ever.”
In addition to Blasey Ford, two other women have come forward with allegations of assault against Kavanaugh, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement.
As Thursday’s marathon hearing wrapped up, Trump weighed in to stand by his man.
“Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him,” he tweeted, minutes after the hearing adjourned.
During four hours of emotionally intense testimony, Blasey Ford said she was “100 percent” certain that Kavanaugh was the person who assaulted her at a high school party in suburban Maryland in 1982.
She said a drunken Kavanaugh and a friend of his, Mark Judge, pushed her into a bedroom, that Kavanaugh pinned her down and muffled her cries as he tried to pull off her clothes.
Democrats have pleaded with Grassley to subpoena Judge to appear before the committee to answer their questions, but the chairman has refused.
