2 protesters confront Sen. Flake in elevator

After Sen. Jeff Flake’s announcement that he would, in fact, vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, the emotional debate over the confirmation spilled into the halls of Congress, on live television, as two women tearfully and loudly confronted the Arizona Republican in an elevator, telling Flake he was dismissing the pain of sexual assault survivors.

“What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit in the Supreme Court,” one woman shouted during a live CNN broadcast as Flake was making his way to a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. “This is horrible. You have children in your family. Think about them.”

Then another woman chimed in, telling Flake that she was once sexually assaulted and that no one believed her story.

“You’re telling all women that they don’t matter — that they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them, you’re going to ignore them,” she said as cameras rolled.

“You’re just going to help that man to power anyway,” the woman added, weeping. “That’s what you’re telling all of these women. That’s what you’re telling me right now.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you! You’re telling me that my assault doesn’t matter, that what happened to me doesn’t matter and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power! That’s what you’re telling me when you vote for him!”

Flake listened quietly, then told the women: “Thank you.”

“Saying ‘thank you’ is not an answer,” the first woman responded. “This is about the future of our country, sir.”

When asked whether he had a comment, the senator told reporters: “No, I need to go to the hearing. I just issued a statement. I’ll be saying more, as well.”

In his statement, issued at 9:25 a.m. Washington time, roughly six minutes before the confrontation, Flake said that Thursday’s emotional Senate Judiciary hearing had not persuaded him that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in the 1980s.

“I wish that I could express the confidence that some of my colleagues have conveyed about what either did or did not happen in the early 1980s, but I left the hearing yesterday with as much doubt as certainty,” he said in the statement. “What I do know is that our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence. That is what binds us to the rule of law. While some may argue that a different standard should apply regarding the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, I believe that the constitution’s provisions of fairness and due process apply here as well.”

He concluded: “I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”

At the judiciary committee vote, where the recommendation to send Kavanuagh’s nomination to the full Senate passed 11-10 on party lines, Flake said he would not vote to confirm Kavanaugh on the Senate floor unless there’s a one-week delay in the vote so the FBI can investigate the allegations against the judge.