Posted on 09/28/2018 5:32:41 PM PDT by Kaslin
Today was supposed to be simple. The Senate Judiciary Committee was set to vote on advancing the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate floor. It was going to be a party-line vote. It was going to be dotted with Democrats once again whining about the process. They also want an FBI investigation to look into the sexual misconduct allegations lobbed against Kavanaugh. One of the women, Christine Blasey Ford, testified before Congress yesterday in an intense day of testimony. Judge Kavanaugh addressed the committee in the afternoon, in a fiery speech defending his name, reputation, and career. He stringently denies the allegations; Ford alleges Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a high school party.
Yes, the committee voted to advance the nomination, but not before Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) decided to take the role of Benedict Arnold, suggesting a delay in the final vote in order to have the FBI investigate these claims. It’s on a weeklong timetable. Sens. Murkowski (R-AK), Collins (R-ME), and Manchin (R-WV) all jumped onboard. The White House, now forced into a corner, has ordered the FBI to conduct an investigation. It’s the wrong move. Flake decided to give this left wing smear campaign another week of oxygen, allowing more time for last minute shenanigans to possibly occur. We know when the FBI submits their preliminary report, the Democrats will demand more time. There is nothing that will ever make them change their minds about this man. It’s delay, delay, and delay. That’s the derail Kavanaugh playbooks the Democrats are deploying. And to no one’s surprise, Ford’s legal team rejects the “artificial limits” (via Fox News):
A note on what the FBI can and can't do: This isn't a criminal investigation, no grand jury, so they can't subpoena records or force anyone to testify.— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) September 28, 2018
So basically, they can do less than Senate investigators who have already done much investigating https://t.co/6MgYoQLA4S— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) September 28, 2018
Gosh, nobody could see that coming. https://t.co/gGrEmHrV1R— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) September 28, 201
President Trump on Friday ordered the FBI to conduct a limited "supplemental" background investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed plans for votes but said Republicans are still moving "forward."
“I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file," Trump said in a statement. "As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
Trump's order came after after several undecided senators whose votes are needed to confirm Kavanaugh called for a weeklong FBI probe before a floor vote.
[…]
An attorney for Kavanaugh accuser Christine Ford, Debra S. Katz, said in a statement Friday that Ford “welcomes this step in the process.” But Katz took issue with the one-week limit, saying no “artificial limits as to time or scope should be imposed on this investigation."
When asked if they could get the investigation done in a week, a senior FBI official told Fox News, "That depends on the schedules of everyone we'd have to interview, including the accuser, accused and witnesses.”
Ford has named three other people she said attended the 1982 party where she claims she was assaulted. All three named people have said they have no memory of the event, though two said Friday they’re willing to cooperate with the FBI.
“I will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that is assigned to confidentially investigate these allegations,” Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge said.
“My client, Patrick J. Smyth, is happy to cooperate fully with this FBI investigation,” said attorney Eric B. Bruce.
Brett Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified and most impressive Supreme Court nominees in memory. This is a nomination that deserves to move forward -- and that is precisely what is happening.— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 28, 2018
In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the nomination is moving forward—and all 51 Republicans have agreed to that end. Also, this FBI investigation is not a criminal one, meaning they can’t force people to testify or subpoena records. In other words, it’s all part of the delay tactic deployed against this Supreme Court nomination. It’s now a street fight. It’s open warfare—and it seems clear that the GOP was not ready to get this deep into the muck when it came to fighting Democrats. It’s going to be another intense and nasty seven-to-ten days. Brace yourselves.
.@senatemajldr McConnell makes remarks about the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. https://t.co/zmDxBlM8BQ https://t.co/s4wLcQZ8uv— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 28, 2018
.@senatemajldr on Kavanaugh nomination: "I'm pleased to announce that all 51 Republican members of the Senate support the motion to proceed to the nomination." https://t.co/uq3iT4EgsV pic.twitter.com/K9sU6wrcex— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 28, 2018
.@senatemajldr on Kavanaugh hearing: "The picture that diverged from all of this is clear: Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified and most impressive Supreme Court nominees in the history of our country." https://t.co/uq3iT4EgsV pic.twitter.com/MZ3KdjouAD— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 28, 2018
Here are Leader McConnell's remarks [emphasis mine]:
“For the information of all our colleagues, there were two very significant developments today. This morning, the Judiciary Committee reported out Judge Kavanaugh favorably. All eleven Republican members of the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of reporting him out with a favorable recommendation. Number two, we will shortly move to proceed to the Kavanaugh nomination. And I’m pleased to announce that all 51 republican members of the Senate support the motion to proceed to the nomination. One hundred percent of the Republican conference supports proceeding to the Kavanaugh nomination.
“Now in Committee, they reviewed the most pages of documents ever produced pertaining to any Supreme Court nomination. Literally hundreds of judicial opinions from his tenure on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. And five days of hearings, during which Judge Kavanaugh testified for nearly 40 hours. Judge Kavanaugh testified on every topic from complicated legal subjects to sensitive personal matters. And there were testimony and statements from countless personal friends, classmates, coworkers, former clerks, and other associates.
“So the picture that emerged from all this is clear: Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified and most impressive Supreme Court nominees in the history of our country. He has excelled at the highest levels of legal scholarship. He holds two degrees from Yale, and for years has lectured at Harvard Law School. He has issued more than 300 legal opinions from what is widely considered the second highest court in the nation. Several have subsequently been cited in the Supreme Court’s own majority opinions. Along the way, he has built an outstanding reputation within the legal community for his clear, thoughtful writing and his exemplary, fair-minded judicial temperament.
“Judge Kavanaugh’s qualifications have been affirmed by his peers and by renowned legal scholars from across the ideological spectrum. One self-described liberal Democrat who advised him at Yale said that Judge Kavanaugh, quote, ‘commands wide and deep respect among scholars, lawyers, and jurists.’ And this praise has been echoed by hundreds of character witnesses who have testified before the Senate or written us letters to praise Judge Kavanaugh’s personal character and his integrity in the strongest terms.
“The Committee has also thoroughly investigated the last-minute allegations that have been brought forward. The evidence that has been produced either fails -- fails -- to corroborate these accusations, or in fact supports Judge Kavanaugh’s unequivocal denial. And in some cases, the accusers have even recanted their baseless allegations. All in all, this is a nominee who has received what many consider the ‘gold standard’ of judicial qualification -- a rating of ‘unanimously well qualified’ from the American Bar Association.
“So, this is a nomination that deserves to move forward -- and that is precisely what is happening. I commend our colleagues on the Committee for sending this impressive nominee here to the floor with a favorable recommendation. Now we will keep the process moving: The full Senate will begin considering Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination today.”
Nonsense but typical of those ready to surrender.
Ford’s attorneys don’t get a say. On the other hand, the FBI might profitably investigate Dr. Ford and her attorneys.
You, my friend, are full of crap.
McConnell is an expert parliamentarian. That is why he is majority leader. He can’t control this process until it is in the Senate.
Flake said this morning he was a YES vote..then he got heckled by some George Soros pieces of crap and that is all that it took to change his mind. I mean did you see him today he looked like a defeated man like a man that literally lost his nut sack
“...any civil service job can be, in essence due to federal unions, a ‘lifetime appointment....” This is false. There are no unions as impotent as a federal employee union.
The more it drags on, the more it costs them.
Hardly. The longer it drags on the longer the good economic news is buried in the hysteria. The Dems want chaos right up until election day. And with early voting starting very soon they have succeeded in much of their game plan regardless of whether Kavanaugh is confirmed or not.
I don’t what dumb as rocks Flake thought he was doing by agreeing to the Rats demand for a week’s delay but an FBI report won’t get them to change their minds about Kavanaugh.
They won’t confirm him in this universe. Only question is when they demand more time, will Flake fold again? Mark my folks, if the vote doesn’t happen next week, it will never happen.
Republican quislings like Flake, Murkowski and Collins have no respect for their voters. They don’t want to look extreme to the .Democrats and the media: We haven’t seen the end of this sordid spectacle.
They could have saved our time by advising Trump to withdraw the Kavanaugh nomination. If they couldn’t vote for him this Saturday, they will never vote for him, period.
After all, they know full well nothing will change in seven to ten days that we needed a seventh FBI background check of Kavanaugh.
More nonsense.
Crazy looking lesbo says what?
—
Yup.
They are trying to string it out. It doesn’t matter if she wants to participate or not.
He always looks that way.
More nonsense.
The proof is in the pudding: McConnell just delivered another stinking pile of garbage mini omnibus bill. $854 billion in spending with no wall funding. House just passed tax cuts again. Senate AWOL, there. That’s not MAGA any way you slice it. Master parliamentarian my rear. LOL.
Can POTUS take this back?? He can’t trust the FBI no more than he can the Republicans or DOJ......damnit!!!
Yes, they are...through 2020; when they believe that he’ll lose/be defeated.
This is not playing well for the Demons outside the Blue states or their cities actually.
“I don’t think the President has any authority to tell the Senate what it must do.”
I didn’t say that President Trump was telling the Senate to do anything, I was suggesting that he terminate the FBI investigation at a fixed point in time if FBI was finished or not. The Senate can do with it what they will - vote or not vote.
There are many fish to fry and the spending bill is not one of them. You do not understand how a deliberative body works, it is not a dictatorship but 100 Prima Donnas who have to be coddled.
McConnell has succeeded very well in his most important task- the approval of federal judges. THAT is his success and getting the Tax Cuts, that’s number Two.
I didn’t see him. I am mostly following this on FR.
But, what I had ascertained was that the Dems looked like they weren’t even going to show up, today, and without the right numbers, they couldn’t have even voted it out of the committee, today. So, whatever motivated him, Flake’s deal placated the Dems enough to allow the vote to move forward. The process is actually still on schedule, at least that set by the delay for the Princess to show up and do her little show.
I think the problem, here, is with the Senate Republicans and a full Senate vote. 51/49 with the prima-donnas and Never Trumpers won’t do the job. The Red-State Dems are needed, and they need convincing to break.
It’s douche nipples like you that have ruined the Republican Party.
Patrick J. Smyth, he is the key in the eyes of the RATS
if he worked at that place Ford said he did .....it will prove she is telling the truth in their eyes(although it really proves nothing)
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