After a third woman accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct Wednesday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called on President Donald Trump to “immediately withdraw the nomination” or direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation to probe the matter. Leahy also demanded that a planned hearing and vote this week on Kavanaugh’s nomination be scrapped.
In a letter Leahy and all nine other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Trump early Wednesday afternoon, the senators said that the president should reconsider his choice for the court. “Judge Kavanaugh has staunchly declared his respect for women and issued blanket denials of any possible misconduct, but those declarations are in serious doubt,” they wrote.
The Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a second letter later Wednesday to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the panel. They called on Grassley to cancel a Thursday hearing in which Kavanaugh and another alleged victim, Christine Blasey Ford, are scheduled to testify, as well as a Friday committee vote on the nomination.
“It would be an unprecedented abuse of power and abdication of our constitutional responsibilities to move forward with this nomination given the concerns about Brett Kavanaugh’s character and actions,” the Democrats wrote. “We ask that you immediately request an FBI investigation or support the withdrawal of this nominee, but at a minimum the vote that has been scheduled for Friday must be canceled.”
The letters came after a lawyer for Julie Swetnick released a sworn statement alleging that she had witnessed Kavanaugh drinking “excessively” at high school parties and engaging in “abuse and physically aggressive behavior toward girls.” Swetnick said that Kavanaugh was present at a party during which she was gang-raped. In a statement distributed by the White House, Kavanaugh called the accusations “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone.”
Leahy has repeatedly called for a full investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh, including after Ford accused him of assault and a college acquaintance accused him of exposing himself to her. But the senator from Vermont has not previously asked the president to retract Kavanaugh’s nomination — or for the nominee to withdraw from consideration.
“That’s a decision only he can make,” Leahy told Seven Days on Monday. “A lot of Republicans wish he would, but that’s a decision only he can make.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Leahy in calling for the withdrawal of Kavanaugh’s nomination late Wednesday afternoon. In a statement posted to Facebook, Sanders said that the president and his nominee had two options.
“Number one, Trump can say I am withdrawing Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination because I am concerned about what I heard,” Sanders wrote. “Or secondly, Kavanaugh himself can say, ‘These allegations are not true and I want the FBI to do a thorough investigation to discredit them.'”
The third member of Vermont’s congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), said much the same. As a member of the House, Welch does not have a vote on court nominations.
“The behavior described by Julie Swetnick is despicable,” Welch said in a statement Wednesday. “If President Trump and Judge Kavanaugh refuse to ask for an FBI investigation of these serious and credible allegations, his nomination should be immediately withdrawn. He simply cannot serve on the highest court in America.”
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Get over it , Pat. Trump is not going to pull Kavanaugh’s name. He doesn’t care about those women making their claims against Kavanaugh, neither do the GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee, nor the rest of the GOP and even Trump’s supporters could care less. They have a depraved indifference to the suffering of others. All they care about is more tax cuts for millionaires, gunsgunsguns, and Endless War and keeping dark skinned people out of the country.
I would very much like a thorough investigation of these charges, to either find out if they are true through verifiable evidence leading to Kavanaugh’s removal from Supreme Court consideration or (memories of the Tawana Brawley accusations) give enough evidence to support his suing not only the women accusing him but also those financially supporting the women for slander.
Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders are both crazed ideologues terrified that the Supreme Court which they have used for years to enact Laws against the will of the people, will now, with the ascension of Judge Kavanaugh, see the court lean to the Right and end the Left’s stranglehold control of said Court.
Too bad old Bernie and Pat for you and all of the crazies on the Left; the Vile, Vicious and Violent Left. We intend to defeat you and finally fix the country you have so deceitfully degraded over the past 50 years. Your time is over! Payback certainly is hell for all wrongdoers!
Peter, get over it! Are you talking for all of the republican congress? They seem like they are slowly backing out of the confirmation hearing for kavanaugh the liar…
Deliberately not picking a side here, but I’m curious how you’re supposed to investigate something that happened over 30 years ago when there’s no physical evidence and no witnesses. Telepathy? Astral projection?
Maybe the FBI will bring back trial by combat. Colby Covington vs Tyron Woodley for the nomination. I’d watch it.
An obstructionist. A man filled with hate….hate for his own country. This man is NOT a man of good character. Dishonest; no integrity. Recall his leaking CLASSIFIED info to the Washington Post to upend Dessert Storm. Bush was getting too much credit. So he set out to SABOTAGE the war. And he was the chair of the Senate Intel Cmte at the time.