Sen. Jeff Flake ‘not comfortable’ voting for Brett Kavanaugh without hearing from accuser – By Ronald J. Hansen (Arizona Republic) / Sept 16 2018 z60
Sen. Jeff Flake complicated the White House’s efforts to get a swift confirmation vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, indicating Sunday that he wants to hear from the woman who is accusing the judge of sexual assault decades ago.
In an interview with Politico, Flake, a retiring one-term Arizona Republican, signaled that the complaint from Christine Blasey Ford should be scrutinized before the Senate Judiciary Committee weighs sending Kavanaugh’s nomination to the chamber as a whole in a vote Thursday.
Ford publicly identified herself to The Washington Postas the woman at the center of an allegation that held up the committee’s work on Kavanaugh’s nomination last week. Flake sits on the influential panel, which vets judicial nominees and votes to recommend whether or not they should be confirmed by the full Senate.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in for his confirmation hearings, Sept. 4, 2018, Washington, D.C. (Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
“If they push forward without any attempt with hearing what she’s had to say, I’m not comfortable voting yes,” Flake told Politico. “We need to hear from her. And I don’t think I’m alone in this.”
Flake could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.
Without Flake’s support, the Senate could have to bypass the Judiciary Committee and directly vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Kavanaugh now is a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., often considered the nation’s No. 2 most-important court.
Flake’s reluctance on the nomination once again puts him in the position of crossing President Donald Trump, whom he has repeatedly excoriated as unpresidential. Trump has ridiculed Flake as weak and insufficiently conservative. The high-profile rancor helped push Flake to quit his re-election bid last year.
While Flake said he wanted to hear from Ford, he did not suggest Kavanaugh’s nomination should be withdrawn.
“I’m not responding to that question at all,” he told Politico.
The Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is reportedly seeking follow-up calls to Kavanaugh and Ford since she has gone public with her graphic accusations of an attack while the two were in high school in Maryland in the 1980s.
On Friday, Grassley publicly noted the support of 65 women who knew Kavanaugh at that time in his life.
65 women of bipartisan backgrounds who knew Judge Kavanaugh in high school: "For the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect" & has "stood out for his friendship, character, and integrity" #SCOTUS https://t.co/9dT54BC2qM pic.twitter.com/5QtcPfwjX5
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 14, 2018
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has long said he expected Kavanaugh’s nomination to be considered by the Senate before the Supreme Court begins its next term at the beginning of October.
Democrats have sought to slow the confirmation process, in part because they have asked to review the full paper trail in his legal career — which includes a stint as staff secretary for President George W. Bush, a position that gave him access to screening and editing documents given to Bush.
Ford’s accusations became known late in the Judiciary Committee’s consideration, but have jolted a nomination that appeared headed toward a confirmation vote.
Allegations of sexual assault have gained newfound consideration after last year’s #MeToo movement that led to a series of high-profile resignations in the world of politics, entertainment and the media. Former Rep. Trent Franks, an eight-term Arizona Republican, was among those who exited in disgrace.
Senate Democrats pointed to the national reckoning as reason to slow down Kavanaugh’s confirmation schedule.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said it would be “inconceivable and abhorrent to hold a vote on this nominee in the coming days.”
It would be inconceivable & abhorrent to hold a vote on this nominee in the coming days—we need time to evaluate this new information and give it the scrutiny it deserves. Anything less would be an absolute abdication of the Senate’s constitutional advice & consent role.
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) September 16, 2018
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said, “Let’s believe women when they come forward.”
Throughout his hearings, Brett Kavanaugh has asked for the benefit of the doubt. On Roe, on William Pryor, on Manuel Miranda. Now, he doesn’t want us to give the benefit of the doubt to the woman accusing him of sexual assault.
Let’s believe women when they come forward.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) September 17, 2018
