SCOTUS CIRCUS
Dems stall to delay hearing
The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault said Tuesday she wants the FBI to investigate her claims before the Senate holds hearings on the allegations.
A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford made the request in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
“As the Judiciary Committee has recognized and done before, an FBI investigation of the incident should be the first step in addressing the allegations,” the letter said.
“A full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non- partisan manner, and that the Committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions.”
Ford, a professor from California, said a drunken Kavanaugh tried to take off her clothes and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming at a house party in 1982, when they were high-schoolers.
The FBI has previously said it won’t pursue the matter because it doesn’t involve a federal crime.
Kavanaugh has strongly denied the allegations.
But the accusation has prompted Grassley to call for his committee to reconvene Monday to let Kavanaugh and Ford testify.
In response to Ford’s letter Tuesday night, Grassley, wary of a bid to stall the process until after the midterms, said she should still testify Monday without an FBI probe.
“Dr. Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge amd memory of events,” Grassley said. “Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.”
Ford could testify behind closed doors if that would make her more comfortable, he added.
“We’ve offered Dr. Ford the opportunity to share her story with the committee, as her attorney said yesterday she was willing to do,” Grassley said. “We offered her a public or a private hearing, as well as staff-led interviews, whichever makes her most comfortable. The invitation for Monday still stands.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) accused Democrats this week of trying to delay a vote on Kavanaugh.
The Tuesday letter from Ford’s
lawyers didn’t expressly say she wouldn’t show up Monday if Republicans insisted on a hearing without an FBI probe.
But Tuesday night, Ford lawyer Lisa Banks told CNN, “She is not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on Monday. This just came out 48 hours ago.”
Banks said Ford wants to cooperate with the committee, but just not on Monday, telling Anderson Cooper, “There’s no reason we should have a public hearing on Monday.”
“Asking her to come forward in four or five days and sit before the Judiciary Committee on national TV is not a fair process,” Banks said.
“If they care about doing the right thing here and treating this seriously, as they have said, then they will do the right thing and they will properly investigate this.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said putting Ford in the witness chair Monday wouldn’t be proper.
“We should honor Dr. Blasey Ford’s wishes and delay this hearing,” according to a statement from Feinstein Tuesday night.
Feinstein on July 30 received a letter detailing Ford’s allegations, but held on to it until Sept. 13 because the accuser asked to keep the allegations confidential.
Ford recently told The Washington Post that she told no one about the alleged assault until she brought it up in couples therapy with her husband in 2012.
She was also not clear on some details — she believes it happened in 1982, but does not know the exact location of the house or who owned it, although she said it was in Montgomery County, Md.
Also complicating the matter, Mark Judge, a high-school buddy of the nominee who was said to have been in the room with Ford and Kavanaugh during the alleged assault, claimed he had “no memory” of the incident and said he doesn’t want to testify.
Feinstein, who said she gave the letter to the FBI only after a news report made mention of it, was interviewed late Tuesday in a Capitol corridor by a Fox reporter — and the senator raised some eyebrows.
“This is a woman who has been profoundly impacted by this. Now, I can’t say everything’s truthful. I don’t know,” Feinstein conceded. “But I do know that you’ve got to contact her lawyers.”
She later walked back part of her comment.
“Look, I believe [Ford] is credible,” she told CNN. “Based on what I know at this stage, she is credible.”
Meanwhile, the Tuesday letter from Ford’s lawyers also claimed the professor has been harassed and the subject of death threats since her name became public.
“I hope that each and every one of us will immediately denounce the horrific treatment of Dr. Blasey Ford,” Feinstein said.
“That this brave woman is receiving death threats and has been forced to flee with her family is appalling and heartbreaking.
“This abuse must stop. We’re better than this.”
ANATION gawks as Washington sinks deeper into the muck, but put aside your disgust long enough to digest what we’re seeing. Three big things are on display.
First, Democrats are proving again that their force multiplier is a win-or-die zealotry. They were on a mission to kill anybody President Trump chose to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and, within minutes of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (center) announced he would fight Kavanaugh “with everything I have.” All 10 Dems on the Judiciary Committee pledged to vote no.
They looked silly given the nominee’s impeccable credentials, and worse when leftist legal luminaries lined up to praise Kavanaugh as a brilliant jurist and sterling father, husband and mentor.
One feminist supporter of Hillary Clinton called him “a superstar” and urged his confirmation by saying, “He is the most qualified conservative for the job.”
Yet the Dems persisted with unabashed fervor. They tried to stop the hearing before it started, took turns twisting Kavanaugh’s words and insinuated, without evidence, that dark secrets existed.
Orchestrated protests aimed to silence the Senate, an effort that collapsed in farce when Sen. Cory Booker (above right) declared he was having his “I am Spartacus” moment. His act of undaunted courage was to release documents that had been approved for release.
Yet all that was mere warmup for the character assassination plot now unfolding. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (above left) sat on the allegation of sexual misconduct for nearly two months, only to inject it into the political bloodstream after the final hearing.
Given one last chance for a kill, the assassins are determined not to let their prey escape. Even the Republican concession of a hearing for accuser Christine Blasey Ford to testify isn’t enough. Schumer demands an FBI investi- gation of events that might have happened 36 years ago, which would insure Kavanaugh couldn’t be confirmed before the midterm elections — if ever.
At this moment, Kavanaugh’s confirmation has gone from a slam dunk to a jump ball. That’s because of the second big thing to notice — some Republicans have a streak of French in them and surrendered before the first shots were fired.
With a 51-49 GOP majority, two defectors would kill Kavanaugh, and more than that have announced they have cold feet.
At least three, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Susan Collins of Maine, are now “maybe” votes. Flake and Corker want to be the new John McCain, meaning they aim to get invited to the liberal Sunday talk shows with the understanding they will criticize other Republicans.
There are no Democrats who play the turncoat role, nor are there any Democrats — not one — who rushed to defend Kavanaugh. Only
Republicans waver when the going gets tough, as if a real fight is beneath them.
That is a chief reason why Flake and Corker are “retiring.” Republican voters in their home states of Arizona and Tennessee are sick of them and neither could win a primary let alone a general election.
But they appear to be set on one last act of sabotage against Trump and the party.
If that shreds Kavanaugh’s reputation for life and turns the crucial court seat over to a Dem-controlled Senate, what do they care? Their treachery will get them a glowing send-off in The New York Times and maybe some fat lobby- ing gigs.
Which brings us to the third reason why the kangaroo court is worth watching. It reminds once again why Trump was elected and why his presidency is so important.
Many voters looked at Washington without hope or trust in either party. They saw the Dems as too liberal and willing to stop at nothing to win, the two main legacies of the Obama presidency.
Those voters looked at Republicans with equal disgust for other reasons. They were the errand boys of Wall Street and big business but, even worse, folded like cheap suits on everything they were elected to do.
The relative handful of true conservatives in their midst, the Freedom Caucus, are treated like crazy aunts. The others, like Speaker Paul Ryan, long for the one thing liberals will never give them — respect.
And so they ultimately stand for nothing because anything important means they must buck the swamp, which they won’t do.
Trump, to 63 million Americans, was the antidote to both parties. Warts and all, he still is.
He is the fighter Republicans longed for, which is why he still commands upwards of 90 percent of GOP support. They know nobody else would have beaten Clinton, so, without him, one Clinton nominee already would be on the high court and the second one about to join. Neither would be named Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh, and you can bet that many Republicans would have played nice and voted for her nominees.
Yes, yes, I know, Trump has created many of the dynamics that make him a lone ranger. He doesn’t always return loyalty and trusts no one as much as his own gut. Given his druthers, he would like to govern as a bipartisan president and cut deals like a Lyndon Johnson.
Maybe in the next life. In this one, Trump is the only defense against the left’s smash-and-smear agenda. It’s either him or the deluge.