Democrats call to delay Kavanaugh committee vote, after accuser comes forward

As political drama heats up in Washington D.C. with accusations of assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, tonight’s 70 Primetime Emmy Awards named dropped Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill.

A committee spokesperson said late Sunday Grassley was trying to arrange separate, followup calls with Kavanaugh and Ford before the scheduled vote, but just for aides to Grassley and California Democrat Feinstein.

“I don’t think the Democrats would confirm anyone in the last two years of the Trump presidency”, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law.

Hawley has said he supports Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Judge, Kavanaugh’s friend and classmate who Ford says jumped on top of her. Judge has denied that the incident happened. “I never saw Brett act that way”, Judge said. Because who would want to incur this kind of really highly politicized attack game that she now finds herself in?

Speaking to reporters at the Senate on Monday, Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: “I’m a very fair-minded guy and I’m going to be fair to her (Ford) and I’m going to be fair to him (Kavanaugh)”.

The senator’s office said once Ms. Ford came forward, the senator no longer had to protect her identity “but remains committed to any woman’s right to choose the manner in how she wants to handle allegations of sexual assault or misconduct”. Trump said he did not meet with his nominee and declined to say whether Kavanaugh had offered to withdraw, dismissing the question as “ridiculous”.

Now, Ford and Kavanaugh will both testify in a public hearing on Monday. Susan Collins of ME and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, two moderates who have yet to announce their positions on Kavanaugh and aren’t on the Judiciary Committee. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time”, Mr Kavanaugh said through the White House.

On Monday, CNN reported that Ford’s lawyer said her client would be willing to testify before Congress.

“Let me be very clear on behalf of the president with whom I’ve spoken at length about this”, Conway said. There is no evidence yet that the past foreclosure decision had any impact on allegations, but we can be certain to hear more about it in the coming days.

“No, because the last minute is the accelerated time they set”, Leahy said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring up President Obama’s nominee for a vote at all and went “nuclear” to change the rules and lower the threshold for picks under a Republican president.

The emergence of sexual assault allegations by Christine Blasey Ford has thrown Kavanaugh’s confirmation process into turmoil.

By Monday afternoon, they got their wish, when the committee announced another day of hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination.

The Trump administration has already undermined American confidence in so many of our institutions, and they seem to be gunning for democracy itself. Democrats are demanding a thorough investigation by the FBI, because these allegations are new.

“It is an insult – insult – to the women of America to rush this through after these serious allegations have been made”, Schumer said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen.

A number of Judiciary Committee members urged holding off on a vote in light of Ford’s testimony－including Republican Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of Trump, who told The Post that she “must be heard” first. Now [Feinstein has] talked to [Blasey Ford] and got her to agree to come forward publicly.

Ford claims Kavanaugh was “stumbling drunk” at the time, but Hatch rejected the possibility that he was so intoxicated he can’t remember the incident. She said that at a party in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s, a drunken Kavanaugh had pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to remove her clothes. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations, reiterating again on Monday that he has never done “anything like what the accuser describes – to her or anyone”. “These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid”.