Judiciary Committee member Flake tells POLITICO: "If they push forward without any attempt with hearing what she's had to say, I'm not comfortable voting yes ... we need to hear from her. And I don't think I'm alone in this" politico.com/story/2018/09/…
GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of the Senate Judiciary Committee proposes to postpone voting Brett Kavanaugh for U.S. Supreme Court Justice amid Sexual Assault Allegations with a woman as a teenager
Sunday, September 16, 2018
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| Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) |
VietPress USA (Sept. 16, 2018): Jeffry Lane Flake (born December 31, 1962) is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator for Arizona. He is a Republican.
Upon graduating from college, Flake worked briefly at a public relations firm in Washington, D.C., before returning to Africa to serve as executive director of the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia. In 1992, Flake returned to Arizona where he became executive director of the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank.
Flake was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2000, where he would serve for 12 years. Flake was elected to the United States Senate in 2012. Flake was also one of the bi-partisan "Gang of Eight" that pushed through a Senate immigration-reform bill in 2013. He is known as a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, but votes overwhelmingly in line with Trump's position. Flake announced on October 24, 2017, that he would not seek reelection in 2018. Flake became Arizona’s senior senator upon the death of Senator John McCain. (Wikipedia).
Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) became the first Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to suggest it delay moving forward with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation amid allegations the judge sexually assaulted a woman as a teenager.
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| Brett Michael Kavanaugh and President Donald Trump |
Brett Michael Kavanaugh (/ˈkævənɔː/; born February 12, 1965) is an American attorney and United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
As an attorney working for Ken Starr, Kavanaugh played a lead role in drafting the Starr Report, which urged the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh led the investigation into the suicide of Clinton aide Vince Foster. Though his investigation concluded that Foster had indeed committed suicide, Kavanaugh has been criticized for investing federal money and other resources into investigating partisan conspiracy theoriessurrounding the cause of Foster's death. After the 2000 U.S. presidential election (in which Kavanaugh worked for the George W. Bush campaign in the Florida recount), Kavanaugh joined the administration as White House Staff Secretary and was a central figure in its efforts to identify and confirm judicial nominees.
Kavanaugh was first nominated to the Court of Appeals by Bush in 2003. His confirmation hearings were contentious and stalled for three years over charges of partisanship. Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in May 2006 after a series of negotiations between Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators. An analysis covering the period 2003–2018 found that Kavanaugh had the most or second-most conservative voting record on the D.C. Court in every policy area.
On July 9, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.[8][9] During the confirmation process, Professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward and alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her by pinning her to a bed and forcibly attempting to remove her clothes. She provided notes from therapists' sessions over the last two decades and passed a polygraph about the event. Kavanaugh has "categorically and unequivocally" denied that the event occurred.
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Jeff Flake Suggests Delaying Kavanaugh Vote Amid Sexual Assault Allegations
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) became the first Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to suggest it delay moving forward with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation amid allegations the judge sexually assaulted a woman as a teenager.
The Senate Judiciary Committee may be unable to move ahead with a Thursday vote that would send Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the full Senate after the judge’s previously unnamed accuser came forward Sunday.
Flake, a member of the committee, said Sunday that he would not be “comfortable” moving forward now that Christine Blasey Ford has revealed herself as the woman behind a letter detailing the allegations.
“If they push forward without any attempt with hearing what she’s had to say, I’m not comfortable voting yes ... we need to hear from her,” Flake told Politico Sunday. “And I don’t think I’m alone in this.”
Republican members of the committee initially released a statement Sundaycalling Ford’s motive into question and seemed ready to continue with Kavanaugh’s nomination as scheduled.
Flake’s statement is significant and could potentially throw Kavanaugh’s bid for the high court in jeopardy considering the GOP holds a slim 11-10 advantage on the Judiciary Commitee.
Moreover, his voice is likely to weigh heavily on the minds of GOP moderates such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who have not yet said how they intend to vote on Kavanaugh. Asked if the committee should proceed to vote this week as scheduled, Collins told CNN Sunday, “I’m going to be talking with my colleagues,” and declined further comment.
Ford revealed her identity on Sunday in The Washington Post after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) confirmed on Thursday that she was in possession of a letter accusing Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting a woman in his high school years. Ford alleges that Kavanaugh was “stumbling drunk” at a party in the 1980s when he pinned her to a bed, groped her, grinded his body against hers and attempted to pull off her clothing.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Sunday he was working on setting up bipartisan calls to keep Kavanaugh’s confirmation on track.
Grassley’s office said it was working to hold calls alongside Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, to speak with Kavanaugh and Ford.
“The Chairman and Ranking Member routinely hold bipartisan staff calls with nominees when updates are made to nominees’ background files,” Grassley’s office said in a statement. “Given the late addendum to the background file and revelations of Dr. Ford’s identity, Chairman Grassley is actively working to set up such follow-up calls with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), also on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he shared Grassley’s concerns about the timing of the accusations, but noted that he would be willing to listen to Ford if she “wished to provide information to the committee.”
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is not on the committee, echoed Flake’s sentiment. He told Politico that doesn’t believe there should be a vote without Ford’s testimony.
Corker added that “if she [Ford] does want to be heard, she should do so promptly.”
Igor Bobic contributed to this report.
This story was updated with a statement from Sen. Bob Corker.
- This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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