Trump judge in sex scandal wins backing for top job by one vote
THE judge backed by Donald Trump to sit on the US Supreme Court has cleared the first hurdle – despite allegations of sex assault.
Senators on the judiciary committee, who have this week heard testimony from one of his alleged victims, yesterday voted 11-10 to clear the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. His appointment will now go to a full vote in the Senate. However the vote is set to be delayed after Arizona senator Jeff Flake called for a oneweek delay, to allow for an FBI investigation into the claims. The rebel Republican is an outspoken critic of President Trump. He had earlier said he would support the Kavanaugh nomination, but shifted his position after being accosted in a Capitol Hill lift by protesters.
Trump has previously rejected Democrat calls for the FBI to investigate allegations by Christine Blasey Ford and two other women that say Mr Kavanaugh was a sexual predator in his youth.
Republicans are anxious to push through 53-year-old Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible but they have only a 51-49 majority on the Senate, which needs to approve it.
If Republicans refuse Mr Flake’s request, they risk undecided party members voting with Democrats to reject Mr Kavanaugh – a heavy blow to the Trump presidency.
Mr Flake said: ‘This country is being ripped apart here. We’ve got to make sure we do due diligence.’ Mr Trump said last night that he would leave the decision to the Sen- ate. He called Dr Ford’s impassioned testimony this week ‘very compelling’, describing her as a ‘very fine woman’.
The committee spent yesterday debating Thursday’s emotional evidence from Mr Kavanaugh and Dr Ford, who accuses him of sexual assault when she was 15.
When it appeared they would lose the committee vote, Democrats reacted with dismay. Four walked out of the hearing and held their own press conference in a hallway.
During this week’s hearing Dr Ford, a California psychology professor, left senators in tears when she described how a drunk and laughing Mr Kavanaugh, then 17, threw her on to a bed and tried to rip off her clothes during a Baltimore house party in 1982. However, Mr Kavanaugh raged at how he and his family had been destroyed by allegations against him which were untrue. Both accuser and accused said they were ‘100 per cent’ sure of their case.
The judge also dismissed separate claims by women who say he exposed himself during a drunken university party and spiked girls’ drinks at high school parties so they could be ‘gang-raped’.
Both political parties have been accused of cynically using Mr Kavanaugh and Dr Ford as pawns in their battle for control of the Supreme Court. If the Democrats can delay Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination until after November’s midterm congressional elections, they may win control of the Senate and block his appointment until the next general election.
Republicans have consistently argued that it would be grossly unjust for the judge to be rejected for the Supreme Court on the basis of unproven allegations.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham said: ‘This has been about delay and destruction, and if we reward this, it is the end of good people wanting to be judges.’
‘Country is being ripped apart’