Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a crucial potential swing vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, said Friday she will wait to hear testimony from the woman accusing him of sexual misconduct before making her decision.
“What I have to do next week, assuming that the hearing moves forward, which I am truly hoping it does, that is the end, hopefully, of this vetting process that I have been engaged in … That’s when I will make my determination in regards to Judge Kavanaugh,” Murkowski told CNN.
Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, is in negotiations with the Senate Judiciary Committee to arrange her public testimony. She initially expressed openness to a public hearing on Monday, but has since pushed for the FBI to investigate her claims and has proposed several conditions for her testimony.
Staff for Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Friday that they have accommodated Ford on several requests, including limiting the number of cameras in the room for her testimony and not allowing Kavanaugh in the room when she testifies. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]As the political fight over the sexual assault allegation made against Brett Kavanaugh intensifies, Democrats are indicating that — even if confirmed — they intend to drag the fight over his Supreme Court nomination past November, raising the possibility of an impeachment push.
However, if Republicans confirm Kavanaugh before November, Democrats have indicated that the fight would not be over are raising the prospect of further investigations and even impeachment.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said that “as soon as Democrats get gavels”, the party will investigate the Kavanaugh allegations even if he is confirmed and sitting on the Supreme Court.
“This is such bad practice that even if they were to ram this guy through, as soon as Democrats get gavels we’re going to want to get to the bottom of this,” he said on CNN.
When pressed as to whether he was saying Democrats would investigate a sitting Supreme Court justice, Whitehouse said he was “confident of that.”
“And I think we’ll also be investigating why the FBI stood down its background investigation when this came up in this particular background,” he said. – READ MORE
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