FLAKE QUAKES
Queens abuse victim berates pol Cowed Republican calls for probe Trump agrees, gives FBI one week
Sen. Jeff Flake's sudden flip-flop over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would never have happened if Queens activist Ana Maria Archila hadn't gotten in his face.
The Arizona Republican called for a one-week delay in the Senate vote for President Trump's choice for the nation's top court after an unexpected, unforgettable Capitol Hill elevator confrontation with Archila and a second sexual abuse survivor that appeared to sway Flake's thinking.
Flake had just declared his intention to vote for Kavanaugh, with the full Senate poised to approve the controversial candidate, when Archila stuck her foot in his elevator door — and delivered her emotionally-charged appeal.
“What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court,” said an agitated Archila, a member of the Working Families Party and executive director of the New Yorkbased Center for Popular Democracy.
“This is not tolerable,” she continued. “You have children in your family. Think about them.”
A clearly uncomfortable Flake had trouble making eye contact with Archila and Maria Gallagher as the pair accused him of taking the word of Kavanaugh over his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
“Don't look away from me!” a teary Gallagher snapped at the senator. “Look at me and tell me it doesn't matter what happened to me, that you will let people like that go into the highest court of the land and tell everyone what they can do to their bodies.”
When Flake returned for the afternoon session, he reversed course and proposed a weeklong delay on a full Senate vote until the FBI can investigate the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
“We ought to do what we can to make sure we do all due diligence with a nomination this important,” said Flake after his change of heart. “This country is being ripped apart here.”
The GOP senators and Trump both quickly signed off on the new FBI investigation.
“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.”
Archila and Gallagher were quickly cheered in the Twitterverse for taking a bold stance during their four minutes of fame as captured by network television cameras.
“Such a powerful moment,” tweeted Queens City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. “Talk about Queens values.”
Former “Star Trek” regular George Takei saved his praise for Gallagher: “After she confronted him, he declared he wanted more investigation and a delayed vote. Our hero's name is Maria Gallagher.”
Flake, asked if the showdown with the two survivors was responsible for his pivot, said it was hard to say.
"I can say this whole process has affected all of us," he said. "I can't pinpoint anything to say this is what caused me to come today to say let's postpone."
Kavanaugh, who has repeatedly and aggressively denied the allegations since Ford came forward with her accusation, offered no resistance to additional scrutiny of the nomination that divided a nation.
"I've done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate,” he said Friday.
Ford's attorney Debra Katz hailed the extension, although she argued that there should be no "artificial limits as to time or scope" on the investigation.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told the Daily News that the next step was simple.
“What the FBI will do is to interview everyone involved, like Mark Judge for example,” he said. “They're going to ask detailed questions and follow up on those and confront them with evidence. They'll also gather information and run down leads.”
Ford testified Thursday that she was 100% certain that Kavanaugh had assaulted her at a 1982 Maryland house party where he drunkenly pinned her to a bed and covered her mouth to stifle her screams.
The nominee was equally adamant, in a rebuttal fraught with tears and anger, that he never laid a hand on his accuser.
The latest chaotic day began Friday with protesters descending on Washington for what appeared to be full Senate approval of Kavanaugh for the ninth seat on the high court.
Flake declared his backing for the nominee, adding that the federal court judge deserved the presumption of innocence “absent corroborating evidence.” The Senate Judiciary Committee in a strict party line
vote went 11-10 in favor of a vote by the full Senate. And several Democrats marched out of the session in protest, though they returned to cast their votes.
Then came Flake's trip to the elevator and the Queens-style message delivered by Archila, who later said she went after Flake because he was an atypical Republican.
"I went to Jeff Flake's office because I think of him as someone who sometimes chooses his conscience over his party,” she told ABC News. "Today I had my hopes pinned on Sen. Flake."
Her long shot came in as Flake returned for the afternoon session with his proposal. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) eventually backed the Flake request, setting the wheels in motion for the federal law enforcement investigation.
The nomination machinations are under tremendous scrutiny, with Democrats still up in arms over the GOP's refusal to consider Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and many Republicans convinced the war on Kavanaugh is politically motivated.
The conservative Kavanaugh, 53, could swing the court to the right for the next quarter-century. But with the Republicans holding a slender 51-49 margin in the Senate, a small handful of GOP moderates could swing the vote against him.
Trump, who has touted Kavanaugh as one of the nation's brightest legal minds, acknowledged Friday that he found Ford's testimony “credible” and “compelling.” The President even allowed that he has some doubts about the fate of his pick to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
"I don't know if this is going to continue onward or if we're going to get a vote,” he said before things shook out and the vote was set for this coming Friday.
Gallagher, in a tweet, said she believed that her message to Flake did get through. "We absolutely need an FBI investigation for him and all Senators to vote NO," said the Westchester County woman.
Archila cited Flake's request for a delayed vote as evidence that the populist message delivered by victims of sexual predators was gaining traction.
“This is a demonstration that what thousands of people have been doing — telling our stories and standing up for ourselves — is working,” said Archila. “We will continue to fight until this nomination is withdrawn or voted down.”