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SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE
Christine Blasey Ford was sworn in before being questioned in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. |
THE HYPOCRISY of the Republican Party was on full display … and now the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court could be in trouble.
The Senate’s Judiciary Committee voted early today to advance Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate. The committee voted despite riveting and credible testimony from Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the justice-to-be of sexual assault when both were in high school 36 years ago.
But here’s the surprise.
Senator Jeff Flake, R-AZ, threatened to vote Kavanaugh’s confirmation down unless the FBI begins a time-limited one week investigation into Ford’s allegation. The Republican leadership has agreed.
Shortly after the judiciary committee vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she supports Flake's condition. Without the two Republican senators support, any attempt to rush a vote on Kavanaugh without the probe, would likely be defeated.
This afternoon, Donald Trump has ordered a one-week FBI investigation pushing back the vote in the full senate on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
In the middle of the Washington cultural and political brouhaha were two Asian American senators, Kamala Harris, D-CA, and Mazie Hirono, D-HI.
During the committee’s vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, both Harris and Hirono were among those Democratic senators who walked out in protest.
“Democrats are not being heard. They’re pushing through this process. This is a failure of this body – to do what it has always said it’s about, which is be deliberative,” said Harris.
“I’m here standing with my colleagues because it’s very clear that the Republicans will break every norm, every rule, to get this person on the Supreme Court,” said Hirono. “Where he will be there with a cloud – he will weaken the court, and this has got to stop. So I walked out. I’m not going to participate in this charade anymore
In the middle of the Washington cultural and political brouhaha were two Asian American senators, Kamala Harris, D-CA, and Mazie Hirono, D-HI.
During the committee’s vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, both Harris and Hirono were among those Democratic senators who walked out in protest.
“Democrats are not being heard. They’re pushing through this process. This is a failure of this body – to do what it has always said it’s about, which is be deliberative,” said Harris.
“I’m here standing with my colleagues because it’s very clear that the Republicans will break every norm, every rule, to get this person on the Supreme Court,” said Hirono. “Where he will be there with a cloud – he will weaken the court, and this has got to stop. So I walked out. I’m not going to participate in this charade anymore
For a full year, the GOP-dominated Senate refused to hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, but are now willing to rush to a vote to seat Kavanaugh despite the dark cloud of sexual misconduct still hanging over his head.
By the time you read this, the Senate's Judiciary Committee will likely have approved Brett Kavanaugh to be voted on the full Senate. The committee is slated to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday (Sept. 28) morning after hearing from Kavanaugh and Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the justice-to-be of sexual assault when both were in high school 36 years ago.
By the time you read this, the Senate's Judiciary Committee will likely have approved Brett Kavanaugh to be voted on the full Senate. The committee is slated to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday (Sept. 28) morning after hearing from Kavanaugh and Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the justice-to-be of sexual assault when both were in high school 36 years ago.
“The credibility is there for her. So I believe her,” Hirono told The New York Times earlier this week.
“This whole idea that the Republicans have, that women just sit around making these things up, that is not borne out by the reality,” she added, referring to the dozens of comments from Republicans questioning Blasey Ford’s story.
On Thursday, Hirono chastised sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell brought in specially to grill Blasey because the 11 Republican men on the committee didn't want it appear that they were ganging up on the woman victim. Hirono criticized the Arizona prosecutor for "asking these questions all to undermine the memory and basically the credibility of" the accuser.
"Mr. Chairman. is it your intent to cede all Republicans' time to your prosecutor rather than they themselves ceding their time to her?'" Hirono asked as she targeted committee chair Chuck Grassley.
"Yes," Grassley replied.
Hirono then said, "We all know that the prosecutor, even though this clearly is not a criminal proceeding, is asking Dr. Ford all kinds of questions about what happened before and after, but basically not during the attack," Hirono said.
On Thursday, Hirono chastised sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell brought in specially to grill Blasey because the 11 Republican men on the committee didn't want it appear that they were ganging up on the woman victim. Hirono criticized the Arizona prosecutor for "asking these questions all to undermine the memory and basically the credibility of" the accuser.
"Mr. Chairman. is it your intent to cede all Republicans' time to your prosecutor rather than they themselves ceding their time to her?'" Hirono asked as she targeted committee chair Chuck Grassley.
"Yes," Grassley replied.
Hirono then said, "We all know that the prosecutor, even though this clearly is not a criminal proceeding, is asking Dr. Ford all kinds of questions about what happened before and after, but basically not during the attack," Hirono said.
In contrast to the hired prosecutor's attempts to weaken Blasey's claims, Harris used her five-minutes to sooth the "terrified" California psychology professor. "You are not on trial," Harris told Ford. "You are not on trial."
"You are sitting here before the United States Judiciary Committee because you had the courage to come forward because as you have said you believe it was your civic duty," Harris said bringing Ford on the verge of tears.
"You have passed a polygraph and submitted the results to this committee. Judge Kavanaugh has not. You have called for outside witnesses to testify and for expert witnesses to testify. Judge Kavanaugh has not. But most importantly you have called for an independent FBI investigation into the facts. Judge Kavanaugh has not and we owe you that," Harris said.
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Christine Balsey Ford, 'you are a true profile in courage at this moment in time in the history of our country."
- Sen. Kamala Harris
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In her powerful closing statement, Harris told Ford, "You have been a true patriot in fighting for the best of who we are as a country. I believe you are doing that because you love this country, and I believe history will show that you are a true profile in courage at this moment in time in the history of our country."
In the afternoon, Kavanaugh didn't give any ground, giving an angry, tearful statement, almost shouting his statement in stark contrast to the Blasey's sincerely emotional and soft-spoken statement and responses.
Kavanaugh took the Trumpian approach to controversy by doubling down and going on the offensive, rudely interrupting the senators' questions and throwing the question back to the Democrats.
He strongly denied the allegations of Blasey Ford and the three other women who claim to have seen Kavanaugh dead drunk and belligerent. Except for Blasey Ford, none of the other women, including a key witness, Mark Judge, to the alleged assault on Blasey Ford, were brought in by the senate committee for questioning and/or corroboration of either Blasey Ford's or Kavanaugh's statements.
He consistently avoided answering Democrat's questions if he would ask for an FBI investigation to move the incident(s) beyond the he-said, she-said situationi facing the committee members.
In the end, probably no votes of committee members changed, Blasey Ford came off sounding sincere and credible and Kavanaugh came off as emotionally unstable, petulant and a sure bet his nomination will go to the full Senate as quickly as possible before another woman might come forth with a story of Kavanaugh's earlier days ... and before the Midterm elections when the GOP might lose the majority in the House and/or the Senate.
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